


Contract

by pizzawitholives



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, BAMF Bilbo Baggins, Bilbo is So Done, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Female Bilbo Baggins, Female Bilbo Baggins/Fili - Freeform, Sassy Bilbo Baggins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-11
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:47:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 42,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22661983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pizzawitholives/pseuds/pizzawitholives
Summary: Belladonna Baggins is nearly 3 years past her majority and time is running out. If she doesn't find a husband soon she will loose not only her inheritance but Bag end and everything inside it as well. Just when she thinks she will have to settle for Bobby Bolger Gandalf shows up looking for a burglar.Dwarves won't let an unmarried female travel with them, and when Bella's cousin Fortinbras hears this he offers up a solution - have one of the Dwarves marry Bella, save her estate and she can travel to help them on their quest. Of course a contractual marriage of necessity isn't the best way to start a relationship, especially between two people who have vastly different cultures.
Relationships: Bilbo Baggins/Fíli
Comments: 94
Kudos: 447





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this chapter is quite small. It's more of a set up for the story. the next chapter will be the same as well but it will definitely pick up soon

Bella Baggins sighed as she closed the door behind Bobby Bolger. She knew that she couldn't afford to refute his attempts at courtship, he knew she couldn't afford it either, but still her heart was heavy. She was nearing 36 though and as was shire law if she wasn't married or at least engaged by her 36th birthday she would lose everything to her Cousin Otho and his odious wife Lobelia and spoiled son Lotho.

Still, she was waiting until the very last minute before she accepted her fate and agreed to marry Bobby, and he knew it too. She had heard from her cousins Primula and Drogo that Bobby had been telling his friends he planned to propose to her on the eve of her birthday so she had to say yes. Not the great romance she had pictured as a faunt and yet that was where her life was heading.

Shaking herself from her thoughts Bella headed into the kitchen for a cup of tea before she headed out the front to end her garden and then perhaps a smoke. Reminiscent of the afternoons she would spend with her parents and a young tween, too young to worry about courting offers but too old for it to be acceptable that she run wild through the shire as she had when she was a child.

* * *

By the time she finished tearing all the weeds out of her garden (which was very therapeutic, especially when she was imagining each weed was someone who was pushing this stupid marriage rule at her) it was close to sunset and she sat on her little bench and soaked in the last rays of the sun as she puffed on her fathers old pipe. The smell of longbottom leaf and the feel of the grass under her feet bringing pleasant memories of simpler times to the front of her mind.

She hadn't realised she was starting to dose until she was startled awake by someone clearing their throat. Looking up she saw an old man leaning on a staff, his grey hat and robes seeming ratty and old at the same time as appearing to be of great quality.

"Good Evening, Gandalf, what brings you by this late and without warning?" She greeted her mother's dear friend with a slight bit of trepidation, knowing it likely wasn't going to be anything good.

Before the wizard could open his mouth, likely to spin some rather infuriating sentence she spoke again "best come in I suppose, the roast chicken I've got going will be enough for the two of us, I can whip up a quick salad and I've plenty of bread rolls from Bobby Bolger that we can have as well." And without waiting for an answer she turned on her heels and into her smial.

Dinner was enjoyable, the two relaying old stories of her parents to each other in fond remembrance. It wasn't until desert was served - sweet honey and almond cake that was her mother's secret recipe and cups of lavender tea - that Gandalf finally let her know why he was really there.

"An adventure! Honestly Gandalf you should know well enough that nobody in the shire would be looking for an adventure, maybe you should try the Bree-Hobbits for I can assure you there will be none here who will agree to leave."

"I remember a young girl who would spend her days looking for adventure beneath every rock in the shire and would beg to join her mother and I on our journeys to Rivendell, where has that dear Bella Baggins gone?"

"She grew up, her parents died and she grew up. I'm past my coming of age, nearly 3 years past and as such I must marry. The girl who longed for adventures is now a girl about to be tied into a marriage to Bobby Bolger of all Hobbits lest she lose everything to the thrice damned Sackville-Baggins." Bella breathed heavily before putting on a polite smile and flattening her skirts "Now, Gandalf, you of course must remember where your guest room is, you are very welcome to stay the night."

Rising with a look of shock and sadness following Bella's outburst Gandalf moved off, bending low to give the girl a hug "Goodnight my dear Bella."

"Goodnight Gandalf, and please, its Belladonna now, nicknames are entirely unrespectable."


	2. Chapter 2

Gandalf was gone when she awoke, Bella read through his note stating he had some errands to run and people to meet.

Shaking her head the Hobbit Lass helped herself to first breakfast, deciding to skip second breakfast and head down to the market early in the hopes of avoiding several Bobby or any of his immediate family.

* * *

She thankfully didn't run into any of the Bolger clan but she did unfortunately bump into her Aunt Camellia who made several remarks about her lack of beau and hinting that she should just give Bag End and the headship of the Baggins family to her son and daughter-in-law already. Once extracting herself from her aunt Bella completed her shop for the next few days before starting back home, munching on an apple as she was starting to grow hungry and she had missed elevenses thanks to her aunt.

She spent the rest of the day visiting several of her tennents on Bagshot row, before heading home to start Dinner. She had just finished prepping the stew when she heard a knock on her door.

Bella sighed when she saw it was her uncle Isumbras and cousin Fortinbras, the past several months the only reason they had for visiting her had been to discuss her marriage to Bobby Bolger.

“Uncle, cousin won't you come in, I’ve just started to prepare dinner, will you join me?” Bella was first and foremost a Baggins and as much as she was dreading the conversation to come, she would remember her manners and behave like a respectable Hobbit.

“My dear Bella, I won't say no to some of your stew” uncle Isumbras chuckled, leading his son inside, both pausing to give Bella a comforting hug.

While the the stew was prepped and cooking the three Hobbits caught up on simple gossip about the shires inhabitants. It was as they sat down to eat that her uncle finally brought up her marriage.

“My dear girl, I know you don't like talking about it but in just over a month you will turn 36 and Bobby Bolger will propose to you and unless you are willing to part with your estate you must say yes.”

“Bella, I wish there was some way you could avoid this, I’ve looked through everything I could to try and find a loophole but there wasn't one to be found, I’m sorry cousin, really sorry.” Fortinbras really was one her favourite cousins, despite the fact that he used to pull her hair as children.

“Look, I know that I must marry, and I know that Bobby Bolger is…” Bella was cut off by a harsh knock at the door. Excusing herself she went out to the hall to open the door, expecting to see Bobby Bolger with another bouquet of flowers for her.

“Bobby please, I need you to give me some space… oh uh hello”

“Dwalin, at your service.” The massive, bald dwarf gave a slight bow before straightening and pushing past her “well, where is it? He said there would be food.”

As the armed dwarf strolled through her smial her uncle and cousin came out to see what was happening and while they spluttered indignation at the intruder there was yet another knock.

“Balin, at your service” 

“Belladonna Baggins at yours”

Of course that wasn't it, 10 more dwarves show up at her and in the chaos she can't figure out what they are doing in her home. Finally she manages to snag Gandalf and drag him into the kitchen pantry, followed by her uncle and cousin, who she hadn’t realised were still here.

“Gandalf, what is the meaning of this? If this is about your adventure I told you I can’t go.”

This caused an uproar from the dwarves currently enjoying everything from her pantry that wasn't green. As Gandalf tried to persuade her to agree to the adventure while uncle Isumbras looked ready to raise hell against the dwarves who were destroying the house his dear sister had loved and Fortinbras just looked lost. Finally a voice broke through the cacophony.

“Quiet!”

Bella turned to find the voice, only to see yet another dwarf standing in her doorway and as she turned to berate Gandalf again, the stranger stepped toward her cousin and continued.

“So, this is to be our burglar, looks a little soft around the edges but he will have to do.”

“I'm not a burglar, master dwarf, nor am I thrilled that you and your kinsmen have paraded themselves through my cousin’s smial without so much as a by-your-leave. Most atrocious manners really, whoever taught you all manners has sorely failed i'm afraid, invading the home of a young, unmarried hobbit lass, at night no less, without an invitation, why I shudder to think of what this would have done to my cousins reputation and prospects if my father and I weren't here.”

Fortinbras, Valar bless him, certainly found it hard to stop once he started, and Bella, having received several similar lectures on manners from her cousin over the years, was quite enjoying the shocked face of the unnamed dwarf.

“Thorin Oakenshield, may I present the burglar I picked out, Miss Belladonna Baggins. Belladonna, my girl, may I present, Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror, rightful king under the mountain. Once we get it back.” Gandalf stepped forward to introduce the dwarf who still seemed quite put off at her cousins rant.

At Gandalf's words several things happened at once. One, Fortinbras turned red at the news that the dwarf he just told off was royalty. Two, said royal dwarf’s head snapped to her with both an apologetic and disgruntled look on his face (quite similar, Bella mused, to Lobelia’s face when realising that as much as she despised Bella, she couldn't risk insulting her too much as Bella was the current head of the Baggins family.) Three, several dwarves let out several curses and disagreements at the news of her being selected as their burglar. And four, Bella snatched a frying pan out of the hands of one of the Dwarves (Feelee? Fily? No, Fili) and shoved it under Gandalf’s nose. 

“I’m not a burglar, I haven’t “stolen” anything since I was a child, and I don't intend to start again now.”

As Gandalf gently lowered the pan from his face, the white haired dwarf - Balin - spoke up.

“Gandalf, you know full well that Dwarrow won’t travel with a Lass that is not accompanied by a male blood relation or her husband.”

“Well, I had hoped her being a hobbit instead of a dwarrow-dam would convince you to overlook that particular problem. After all, you need a fourteenth member of the company, and a burglar, it’s not as if you have several lining up to take part in your quest.”

While the dwarves start to argue amongst themselves, with Gandalf's occasional input, Fortinbras stepped forward and cleared his throat several times to get their attention.  When he finally did have it, he froze for a few moments before taking a deep breath and plowing ahead.

“Well, if you can't take Bella…” said lass sent her cousin a glare “Belladonna, unless she is accompanied by a family member or a husband, why don't one of you marry her?”

“Fort, I swear to The Green Lady, what are you doing?”

“Helping you out cousin.” Fortinbras turned back to the stunned Dwarrow “now, Belladonna finds herself in the unfortunate position of having to get married within the next six weeks or she will lose everything, the house, the estate, her inheritance and all the Baggins family heirlooms. Since she is head of the Baggins family through her father she must marry for two reasons, she must provide heirs and because the Baggins family bylaws, decree that a Lass who has lost her father must marry within three years of her majority, or coming of age day, else she is forfeit to all anything she would otherwise inherit from her father.

Belladonna’s current course of action is to lose everything or to accept marriage to Bobby Bolger, who knowing her position, is planning on offering to her on the eve of her birthday so that she cannot refuse him.

Now, you say you need a burglar and Gandalf claims my cousin will be your best chance. You also say she can't travel without a male family member or husband. If one of your company marries her it solves both parties problems, Bella doesn't have to marry that odious hobbit and you have a burglar. And I'm sure we can include several other clauses in the marriage contract to help out both your people and ours. With my father being the Thain of the shire he is able to negotiate trade agreements with you all.”

There was silence for a moment before Thorin stepped forward “agreed.”


	3. Chapter 3

Bella muttered to herself as she paced the hallway outside of her father’s office (her office really, but it still didn’t sound right) her uncle, cousin, Gandalf, Thorin and Balin had retreated to talk more about the contract that would see her married to one of these horribly rude Dwarves who had invaded her smial and were looking to drag her off.

Despite the fact that Bella had objected loudly and profusely that she did not want to marry a stranger let alone actually go on this cockamamie adventure to steal from a bloody dragon, the five males had absconded as soon as Bella had been told what the quest was about, in order to hash out the marriage contract.

The remaining Dwarrow were sitting around her lounge room, smoking and talking amongst themselves while watching her pace.

Bella paused and pressed her ear to the door of the study, nothing. Either they were talking exceptionally low or Gandalf had cast some sort of spell to stop her from hearing, considering the amount of times he had caught her eavesdropping as a faunt it was entirely plausible.

Throwing her hands up and letting out a groan she started pacing again, muttering about the ridiculousness that she wasn't included in talks about her future.

“Why are you so angry? You were prepared to marry another you do not love. Or is it that we are not Hobbits that has you turned off?” The blond one, Fili, asked, seemingly annoyed with her constant pacing and mutterings by now.

“You do not know much of what I was prepared to do, master Dwarf, so I would thank you to stay out of this matter as it is of no concern to you.” Bella snapped back. Yes she didn't have to be so rude, Yavanna knows her father would be rolling in his grave, but her life was being decided for her, again, but this time she couldn't fight it. She may be the head of the Baggins family now, but she was still beholden to the will of her uncle as both head of the Took family and Thain of the shire.

“Don’t get why you are so angry though. If you are related to the Thain technically you are like royalty, plus, as you’ve said yourself, you are the heir of a good family. Being married off for political gain should be normal for you. Or are you so spoiled you thought the rules didn't apply to you?”

“MASTER DWARF! Do not presume that the normalities for your race are the normalities for mine! I grew up believing I would one day marry the one I love. Then I at least thought I would marry someone I liked. Now I am being told I must marry a stranger and go on a suicidal quest to face a bloody dragon that your kin basically invited to the mountain in the first place!”

“Invited! You think we wanted to lose our homeland, lose our people and be homeless and shunned for a century.”

“I think greed is a quality found in dragons and, apparently, Dwarves!”

“Greed! Is it greedy to crave a home, to crave a solid life for our people!”

“No, it is foolish!”

“ENOUGH! Belladonna Baggins, what would your parents say to see you right now?” Uncle Isumbras sounded livid. And as Bella turned from the fuming Dwarf to look at her uncle and apologise for disrupting the meeting, she saw Fili look over her shoulder and flinch.

Standing in the hallway were all five who were in the meeting. Judging by the paper clasped in Gandalf’s hands Bella guessed the contract was finished and deflated. There was no stopping it now.

“Well, what have you decided for my future?”

Fortinbras stepped forward and gave her a soft smile before speaking “you remain head of the Baggins family, your husband does not take over from you, Bag End, your estate and inheritance all remain in your name. You go on this quest and you will have to stay with your husband but are expected to visit the shire often enough to perform official duties unless something should happen to warrant your return to the shire. As you know, Hobbit customs allow for divorce as long as the marriage is not consummated and that clause has been kept in. The shire will be providing produce to the settlement in the blue mountains while the quest is taking place. Once the mountain is reclaimed the shire will send a retinue of Hobbits who specialise in revitalising the land to establish farms around the mountain. The Dwarves will supply year round guards to help protect the shire, while we should generally be fine, once winter hits you know how bad it can get. We will house the soldiers in the old Barracks in Buckland.”

Bella nodded, it was a reasonable contract and the Dwarven soldiers stationed in the shire would be appreciated, especially if another Fell Winter hit.

“And who am I to marry?”

It was Thorin who answered her “given the nature of the contract and your status within the Hobbit society, it has been decided that you must wed a member of the royal family. Which means, Fili.”

The newly betrothed couple glanced at each other, both with annoyance painted across their faces. Bella recovered first and stepped forward to curtsy to her fiance.

“My dear husband-to-be, I beg you come with me so that we may plant our seed.”

Confusion flashed across Fili’s face while the rest of the Dwarves looked at each other in confusion. They were not married yet and were about to embark on a dangerous journey, surely she did not mean to bed Fili in the hopes of conceiving a child.

“I… I uh must beg pardon, my lady, did you say plant our seed?”

Realising where his confusion was coming from Bella’s face burst into flame and she stuttered as she tried to explain the tradition to her fiance.

“It is a Hobbit tradition, Master Dwarf, that a newly engaged couple plant a seed each in the garden of their future home, it symbolises how love grows, and how their love will grow together. Couples choose a flower seed for the other to plant.”

“The idea, my dear fiance, is that I choose the seed of a flower that symbolises my wish for our life together and give it to you to plant. You do the same and give it to me to plant. We plant the seeds together and watch as they grow together, as we have children we plant a seed that represents our hope for each child. Most couples once engaged start to set up their home. My dad made this smial as my mother's engagement gift and they planted their seeds once it was ready. Since Erebor is our future home and we will be married before we reach it, we will have to plant here.”

Fili nodded as he absorbed the information “flowers have meanings? Aren't all flowers the same?”

“No! Goodness that would be like saying all gemstones are the same.” Bella turned to her cousin “Fort, could you grab great great grandma Baggins’ book on flower language for Fili to borrow please?”

As Fortinbras ran off to collect the book from the reading room Bella turned back to the Dwarves, mainly Fili.

“Well, once he comes back have a read through and decide what seed you wish for me to plant, since it is quite late and you have much to learn we shall have to plant tomorrow. Once you have decided on what seed let uncle Isumbras know and he will give you the seed you need. Normally no one should know what seed you chose, not even me, but in this case it is understandable.”

As Fortinbras returned with the book for Fili, Bella went about organising rooms for people to sleep in.

“Gandalf you know where your room is, uncle it is late, you and fort shall have to stay together in the room next to mine. Bifur, Bofur and Bombur, you follow Gandalf and he can show you to the back room. Dori, Nori and Ori will you be okay to bed down in the second sitting room, it has several long couches which are comfortable to sleep on. Oin and Gloin just through here is a spare bedroom with access to a shared washroom, Balin, Dwalin and Thorin that door there leads to the room that connects to the washroom. Kili, I'm afraid you will have to sleep on the couch here.”

As everyone moved off to the rooms she had pointed out Fili stood watching. This situation he was in wasn't ideal, and her words from their earlier disagreement still grated him, but he had to commend her on remembering everyone's names and family groups. She was also quite caring, considering these strangers had traipsed through her house, still she was distributing pillows and blanket to everyone and making sure they were comfortable.

“I am sorry, Kili, but there aren't anymore rooms to give you.” the lass was fretting over his little brother, which made him smile. Kili deserved to be mothered a bit, he had grown up too fast.

“It’s all good Miss Boggins, the couch is more comfortable than my bed back home.” Fili saw Belladonna’s face drop as she took in the information that sentence provided. Before she could ask for further clarification he cleared his throat.

“And where will I be sleeping tonight, my lady?”

Belladonna led him down the hall a bit and pointed at a door that had little lines drawn on it, closer inspection showed they were height lines, each with Belladonna’s name and age written next to it.

“This was my childhood bedroom, the bed may be a bit small but you should fit ok.” and with that, Fili watched as his fiance entered the room across from his, giving him a soft goodnight as she closed the door.

Kili came up behind his brother and clapped him on the shoulder “Congratulations, by the way, can’t wait to become and uncle.”

“Go to bed Nadad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the reason that Thorin says Bella must marry Fili and doesn't suggest Kili is that in my story much like Bella has 3 years after majority dwarves aren't eligible to marry until they are 80. Otherwise it would make more sense to have Bella marry Kili because Fili is next in line and it would be preferred that he marry a dwarf.  
> And Thorin won't dishonour the Thain by suggesting someone with the status of princess marry someone not a prince (despite the fact that Hobbit don't look at Thains being kings the dwarves consider his status equal to that of a king.)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been longer than I planned. Work has been a bit crazy but I finally finished.
> 
> Can I just thank everyone who is reading this. It's been something I've wanted to post for a while so to have the response I've gotten is honestly so heartwarming xoxo

Bella awoke the following morning with one thought on her mind ‘I’m getting married, tomorrow.’

Unlike most brides, who felt extreme joy at the thought of their wedding, Bella felt dread. And not just because she was following said marriage by a suicidal quest to face a dragon.

Rousing herself from her bed, Bella quickly but quietly walked through her smial to the kitchen. First breakfast was due and food always helped her calm down.

Fili woke up to the smell of bacon wafting through the hobbit hole. He had stayed up late the previous night in order to select the seed he would give to Belladonna to plant. Despite the fabrication that was their contractual marriage Fili had resolved to make the most out of the situation he was now in. Belladonna clearly expected him to follow hobbit betrothal traditions and he would, as long as she agreed to follow some of his dwarvish traditions. 

Following his nose, Fili came upon the kitchen, the table covered in breakfast and Belladonna at the stove, humming to herself as she fried up bacon. It was a very domestic scene, he thought, especially as she turned to face him and wished him good morning as she set a plate piled high with bacon on the already full table.

“Fili, could you help move this food onto the table we were using last night?”

Bella smiled as Fili moved to help her, she had decided to make the most of her situation, they were to be married, she could spend her time resenting everything or she could at least put effort into building a friendship with her husband. By the lack of glares and the ease of which he helped her Bella guessed that Fili had come to the same conclusion as her. Hopefully the fact that they had started off on a bit of a bad foot wouldn't hinder any attempts at friendship.

Soon the two had moved all the food to the massive table and the rest of the company, as well as Gandalf and her uncle and cousin, soon joined them. Conversation over breakfast was joyful, everyone having enjoyed a good sleep and the hearty breakfast was filling them all with energy. 

* * *

Soon though, matters had to be discussed. And the company dispersed amongst the smial, leaving Thorin, Balin, Fili, Bella and uncle Isumbras to move into the study to discuss the wedding.

“Well, Fili, I trust you have chosen a seed for Belladonna, if you would be so kind to write it down and hand it over, I will collect it for you.” Isumbras glanced at the written words and smiled, not a bad choice, in fact, it was the very same seed that his sister had chosen for Bungo when they had planted their seeds. “Very good, well then to the business of the wedding. Given that we are in the shire and Belladonna will have to relocate to Erebor should all prove to be a success, I think it would be only fair that we have a hobbit wedding tomorrow afternoon. If we spread the word today then everything will be prepared for tomorrow. Of course the party afterwards will be organised by your Baggins family I’m sure Belladonna. I will get my Rose and Fort’s Lalia to help find you your wedding clothes, myself and Fort can help Fili.”

“Thank you, uncle, but I would very much like to wear my mother's wedding dress. And as for the hobbit wedding, well, as I am marrying a dwarf, who is a prince, I feel like we should allow for some dwarven traditions within the ceremony.”

Balin hadn’t been too happy with the idea of marrying Fili off to the hobbit lass, for one thing he didn’t feel bringing said lass on the quest would be good at all, but mainly because Fili would one day be king and this hobbit would be his queen. Having a queen who is not a dwarf and has no knowledge of their traditions and people would not be good. However, her immediate interruption to accommodate dwarvish tradition into her marriage helped him relax a little, at least she was open to following their ways.

“The most important part of a dwarvish wedding is the braiding ceremony” Balin spoke up, smiling at the confusion on the hobbits’ faces “after vows are said the couple braid a bead into each others hair, claiming each other in front of everyone. As they do this they whisper promises to each other that no one, not even the officiant of the ceremony, should hear. As long as that is included, and Fili is able to wear clothes that show his status, as is done for royal weddings, then we shall be fine to follow the hobbit wedding.”

“So, the wedding is tomorrow afternoon. Then the party. The next morning we shall set out for Bree and gather supplies and ponies before we set off. As is tradition, Fili and Miss Baggins will stay in this house the day after the wedding and spend time together before joining us in Bree.” Thorin stated, leaving no room for a disagreement.

With the wedding agreed upon everyone set off to do what they needed, uncle Isumbras paused to speak to his niece and her fiance “Belladonna, take some time to speak with Fili, get to know one another a bit better. Myself and Fortinbras will go speak to your grandmother Baggins and explain the contract and marriage. But you know she will want to meet Fili so I shall tell her to expect the two of you for dinner.”

* * *

Conversation was awkward to begin with, small talk regarding their families was awkwardly stumbled through. Fili had been amazed to know that hobbits had extremely large families while Bella couldn’t believe that most dwarves were lucky to have one child. Soon though, Bella asked Fili about the braiding ceremony.

“Well, braids are used to show other dwarves who you are. Mainly it is the bead and clasps that hold the information but for certain braids placement is also important. At your right temple is your family braid, that gets braided in when a dwarf is ten and the clasp holds the family seal.” Fili paused to show her his braid and clasp, which was silver and blue and had a sword and hammer crossed over. “This shows I am of the royal family of Durin’s folk. On my left is calle the relationship braid. Basically it has a plain silver bead now as I am, was, without a partner. Ordinarily while a couple is courting they place a courting bead in so that others know not to attempt to court you. During the marriage after we say our vows, I will braid your hair and place in the marriage bead, I will also braid in your family braid and clasp it with one that marks you as part of the royal family. Then you will braid and place the marriage bead in my hair.”

“And the whispers?”

“Well the vows are public and the same for every couple. While braiding each other's hair couples whisper secret vows and promises to each other. Although most of the time couples end up just telling each other that they love each other and they will take care of each other.” Fili didn’t need to point out that they would not be like most couples, and the words they shared would not be of love.

“Tell me more about the hobbit ceremony.”

“It starts with our fathers, or well a father figures, walking us down the aisle, it symbolises how we are both moving into a new life. Then we exchange vows and then there is the party. Traditionally we both wear white, because it is pure and simple, no marks, no colours, it is the beginning of a new chapter. We also wear flower crowns and I carry a bouquet. Similar to the seed, I weave your crown, however instead of it being about what I wish for you and our marriage it is meant to symbolise qualities I admire about you. Same on your part, you weave my crown, although we will need to get someone to help you. The bouquet I carry is meant to be a representation of our relationship which isn’t much. Thankfully my mother carried a simple bouquet of roses so I shall do the same. To others it will seem like a comment on our relationship but to us we know it is simply remembrance.” Bella gave Fili a small smile “we don’t have to be up there ourselves either. We each have someone to stand up with us, someone we are close to. Most use a sibling but sometimes it is a friend who you love like a sibling.”

* * *

Soon it was time for lunch and Isumbras and Fortinbras returned to Bag End with their wives and baskets of food. While everyone dug in Rose and Lalia took Bella into her bedroom with some food, shouting something about flowers. Isumbras and Fortinbras waited until everyone had finished eating to start putting them all to work.

“Ok, we have a wedding tomorrow that needs to be put together now. I need as many of you to follow Fortinbras to the party tree to help set up chairs and tables ready for tomorrow. Once that is done we have ale, decorations and table settings that need to get down there. As much as possible needs to be done today. Fili, Kili and Thorin if you would stay behind we have several things to discuss.”

As the dwarves followed Fortinbras out the door Isumbras asked if Kili and Thorin would help move the ale from the storage out to be placed near the door, ready for to be picked up later. As they moved to do so he pulled Fili aside and handed him two seeds.

“Here, they are both the same seed, one you will give to Belladonna to plant here. Hold on to the other one, once you are settled in Erebor, plant the seeds again as you start a new life there.”

“Thank you, Mister Isumbras. Do you suppose you could help me with Belladonna’s flower crown?” Fili closed his fist around the seeds before placing them in the small sack Isumbras handed him and hiding the sack away in one of his many pockets.

“It is uncle now, my boy. And yes, I was going to ask you if you would need any help. Let’s go out into the garden with your brother and uncle, we can discuss more things as we select the flowers and then make the crown. Don’t forget to grab the book you used last night.”

As the four men moved outside Bella was with her aunt Rose and cousin Lalia as they made slight adjustments to her mother's wedding dress to ensure it fit her perfectly.

“Have you decided what flowers you are using in his crown Belladonna?” Lalia asked, a dreamy look on her face. She was likely remembering doing the same for her wedding to Fortinbras 3 months ago.

“Yes, I was thinking of using amaryllis, white chrysanthemum, freesia and magnolia with some fern leaves as well. And my bouquet will just be roses like my mother had.”

Belladonna Took had decided to use a bouquet which had two of each colour of rose - red, orange, pink, lavender, white and yellow. It was something not quite done but Bella thought it fit her parents well. Several of the roses sort of fit in with her marriage and the rest, well while the hobbits would likely see it for a declaration of love Bella and Fili knew the Bouquet was simply about remembering her mother.

Aunt and cousin looked at each other, likely guessing at Bella’s reasoning behind her choice of bouquet.

* * *

Out in the garden Fili had finally chosen the flowers he wanted for Belladonna’s flower crown.

"So white carnation, hydrangea, yellow jasmine and coriander, is that good for a flower crown?"

"Sounds perfect cousin Fili. Here let me help you with weaving the crown." Fortinbras stepped forward and Fili handed him the flowers they had picked, his brother and uncle following behind.

“So what’s the point of Fili having to wear flowers at his wedding? I suppose at the very least it will cover up his smell” Kili, as sad as he was that his brother was entering a contracted marriage, could never pass a chance to tease his brother.

“Well, Kili, the idea is it will show everyone how well a couple knows each other, because they choose the perfect flowers for that person. But it also shows others the qualities that you love in the person you are marrying. The belief is that the more diverse the two flower crowns are then the happier the two will be, it is believed to be a blessing from Yavanna if the couple have no matching flowers in their crowns, which is quite rare since most hobbits value similar things.” Isumbras quite enjoyed Kili’s antics, the two brothers reminded him quite a lot of him and his sisters, Belladonna in particular. Belladonna had always enjoyed teasing him and creating mischief, but would also be the first to defend him. He was also one of her strongest supporters when she wanted to travel and even stronger when she decided that Bungo Baggins was the hobbit for her.

“Belladonna’s parents had such different flower crowns, some people saw them and were even more surprised they were a couple at all. Belladonna had chosen for Bungo flowers that stated his humility, happiness at home and goodness were why she loved him. Bungo’s flowers were all about how wild she was and her love of adventure. It was quite something to see, my sister and her husband, two more opposite people couldn’t be more perfect for each other.”

After Fili finished the crown with a lot of help from Fortinbras he pulled his brother and uncle aside to speak with them about their involvement in the ceremony. Thorin would deny it, but his eyes did tear up when Fili asked him to walk him down the Aisle. Kili was overjoyed to stand beside his brother, glad that Fili wouldn't be alone on what should have been the happiest day of his life.

As they headed back inside Fili informed Bella of Kili agreeing to stand with him and Thorin walking him down. Being reminded of such tasks made her gasp and turn to her uncle.

"Uncle Isumbras, I know tradition dictates that it should be the oldest uncle on my fathers side but I refuse to have uncle Longo. Will you walk me down? and Lalia, my dear friend and cousin, will you stand with me?"

Bella was nearly knocked off her feet when Lalia ran at her to tackle her into a hug while cheerfully, and loudly, agreeing to stand with her childhood friend. Uncle Isumbras looked proud as he nodded, tears gathering in his eyes. He had loved his sister and had loved Bungo, Bella was a beloved niece, and he would do her parents right - as right as he could with their daughter being forced to marry one she didn't love. It wasn't until much later, when Bella returned to the shire, that he knew just how right he was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the meanings for the crowns
> 
> the crown Bella makes for Fili:  
> Amaryllis - pride. Chrysanthemum white - Truth. Freesia - trust. Magnolia - nobility. Fern - sincerity
> 
> the crown Fili makes for Bella:  
> white carnation - innocence. Coriander - hidden worth. Hydrangea gratitude. Jasmine yellow - grace and elegance
> 
> Im hoping the next chapter will be the wedding and the day after. last one before the quest starts. there will be misunderstandings and ups and downs for our couple. things are ok now because they havent really been able to stop and think and spend time together. Both plan to keep up appearances but it will get tricky on the road but fear not I promise a happy ending.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Been a while I know!
> 
> I've been working non-stop for the past few weeks despite the fact that it is supposed to be a quiet period so finding time to work on this story has been hard. But here we have the wedding at the end of the chapter and the quest will be kicking off in the next couple of chapters.

The morning of her wedding Bella woke to bright skies with birds singing merrily outside her window. It wasn't fair that they were so happy and free, she thought bitterly, while she must marry a stranger just so she could keep her home. Stepping out of her room she heard her Aunt cooking up breakfast in the kitchen and a quick glance saw her uncle in there as well, nursing a cup of coffee. Before she could eat however, she had one more thing to do.

Fili answered her knock almost instantly, which means he had to have been awake and waiting for her. In silence they walked out the front to the empty pot on the left of the front gate. Bella took up the small spade and guided her soon-to-be husband to hold it with her as they dug a small hole to plant their seeds.

"This seed I give to you to plant and with hope our marriage will grow as well as this seed." Bella handed over Fili's seed and he placed it in the soil before handing over her seed and repeating the words she had said to him.

Last night they had gone to have dinner with her Baggins family and afterwards her grandmother shared with them the planting words. No one was told what they must say until their time to plant their engagement flowers. For children flowers it was different and the parents could say whatever they wanted but for the planting between two people was sacred.

"My dear Belladonna, there are many variations of what you can say, and they are all written and kept by the matriarch of each family. You must decide together what words you will speak as your marriage prayer and never tell another soul."

Most versions spoke of love. Indeed Fili had been the one to find their prayer, tucked away in the back and had been the only prayer that seemed to fit their situation.

After the seeds were covered in soil and watered the pair walked back inside and washed up before breakfast. 

Bella felt herself tear up. The wedding breakfast was a Took tradition. The idea being it was the last time a mother would cook for her daughter. The traditional meal was buttermilk scones with jam and flat pancakes with honey. To walk in and see not her mother but aunt Rose placing the food down caused her more sadness than she had felt for a long time. It struck her suddenly that she was about to get married without her parents there with her and she had to excuse herself in order to splash some cool water on her face.

Fili and the company would stay and get ready at Bag End along with Fortinbras. Bella would go to her Grandma Baggins' house with uncle Isumbras, aunt Rose and Lalia.

Her mother's dress was white with silver thread embroidery all over it. As a child Bella used to dream of wearing a dress as beautiful as her mother's. 

Lalia came over with the crown that Fili had made for her to wear and she couldn't believe how he seemed to see her.

"Innocence, gratitude, hidden worth, grace and elegance, while I understand him being grateful and can see how I appear innocent I am not sure about the rest."

"You think too little of yourself dear girl"

"Grandma, you are biased. And besides he likely chose them simply because he felt he must."

Soon she was ready, her dress fit perfectly, her crown on and her curls falling out around her. The flowers all stood out amongst her reddish brown hair and the yellow jasmine made the green in her hazel eyes stand out. Holding her rose bouquet she looked

"Just like your mother Bella, you look beautiful" her uncle moved forward and placed a kiss on her forehead. Her grandmother let out a sob and rushed to wipe her eyes before she started to bawl. 

"Your mother was beautiful my dear, but you are radiant."

Bella had spent her life believing her Baggins grandparents had disliked her mother, but hearing her grandmother cry over the similarities between the two Belladonna's made her think otherwise.

"Did you love my mother, grandma?"

"I loved her because she loved my son and made him happier than anything or anyone ever did. I disliked how her adventures would have Bungo worried over whether she would come back but I always admired her spirit. You are some much like her, it's hard to see the difference sometimes."

Bella walked over and gave her grandmother a hug, the two taking comfort with each other for the last time in a long while.

  
  


Fili was nervous. As much as Kili joked around in attempts to lighten the mood, all he could think about was how he was about to marry a stranger.

He was dressed in the same clothes he wore on his first night here. He had removed most of his weapons though, leaving just a sword at his side as was tradition for a dwarrow wedding. It symbolized one’s ability to defend their spouse, and any future offspring, from danger. Dwarrow also carried a symbol of their trade with them as skills and crafts were important and showed how all crafts were essential in the running of a kingdom. As a prince, he didn't have a trade outside of learning how to rule a kingdom and lead an army so the sword would be all he had.

"Here we go, the crown Belladonna made you" Fortinbras walked over and handed the crown to Fili "pride, truth, trust, nobility and sincerity. Not a bad crown to have, Belladonna did well. Most hobbits will see that she is essentially telling everyone that you are noble of character and she takes pride in your relationship, and you have a sincere relationship based on truth and trust."

"So in other words, she is making a statement without actually making a statement, the lass is quite clever." Balin nodded thoughtfully and gave Thorin a meaningful look. From the little they had seen of Belladonna she seemed like she would do well as queen one day.

  
  


The quests were all sitting underneath the party tree, theories about who Belladonna Baggins would be marrying were whispered amongst the crowd. Most were in favour of Bobby Bolger having asked instead of waiting, however when his family walked in just as confused as everyone else they quickly joined in with the conspiracy theories. 

Several hobbits tried asking the Took and Baggins families for answers but they were all tight lipped.

Soon Gandalf walked down the aisle and took up the minister position. Slowly the chatter died down and soft music could be heard, almost as one the congregation turned to the back and were shocked to see three dwarves walking down. Indeed there were more dwarves sitting with the bride’s family.

Kili walked down towards Gandalf, a small smirk on his face as he saw the shock on the faces of the crowd. The smirk fell as he reached Gandalf and turned to see his brother and uncle walking down side by side. Growing up they had always known they may be married off to strengthen ties with other kingdoms, still, to see his brother walking down the aisle for such a marriage, Kili felt sad. Fili would no longer have the chance to marry for love, if he ever found his one he would not be able to marry her. To see his big brother give up his chance for a happy marriage and family was something Kili would not be able to forgive Bella for. She didn’t have to come on this quest, in fact she seemed against going until her uncle had decided to make a match. She seemed nice enough at first, but Kili now saw the truth, all she cared about was keeping her house and did not seem to care of who’s happiness she was ruining in the process.

Fili and Thorin were standing in front of Gandalf now and everyone turned to look as the bride and her uncle walked down the aisle.

Fili watched Bella walk down the aisle, she looked older than she had in the few days that he had known her yet at the same time she looked incredibly young. Her auburn curls were left to fall down her back with a few strands pinned back to keep her hair off her face. She had her flower crown on and the colours and flowers matched her well. Her dress was white with silver flowers embroidered all over and while a very hobbit style the skirt was ankle length and a bit slimmer than the usual dresses she wore. 

Bella took a deep breath as her uncle started to lead her down the aisle behind Lalia. This was it. Today she would become a married woman. Fili was watching her and she could see how he gripped onto his uncle and brother a bit tighter for support.

She felt sad. Sad for Fili, that he had given up a chance of love in marriage. Sad for herself, that she was forced to go through with a marriage in order to keep her home. Sad that her parents weren’t here with her. Sad that she may never make it back to the Shire.  She smiled through the tears though. 

The story that had been spread was that she and Fili had met a few times when she had gone to Bree with her mother and had become great friends. When he heard about her parents death he was about to head off on a job guarding a travelling caravan for a year. He had then visited her with Gandalf briefly though he knew nothing of her need to marry. When they were re-acquainted the other night and the information was given to him Fili had proposed because he had always loved her and Bella had accepted because she loved him. It also explained her going with them on this quest, hobbits did not like adventures, but they did love romance. A bride following her groom because they had been apart for too long was a very romantic notion and most hobbit’s were willing to forgive her adventure because of it.

When she finally reached Fili, her uncle and Thorin placed her hand and Fili’s hand together and stepped back, both giving a loud ‘we do’ to Gandalf's question of consent. Together the bride and groom stepped onto the small dias with Kili and Lalia standing next to them. The traditional vows were spoken and Fili squeezed her hand before placing a chaste kiss on her lips. Then they stepped to the side while Gandalf explained to the hobbit’s what they were doing.

Fili went first, braiding at her right temple the family braid, clasping it with a simple silver clasp with a rough engraving of the royal crest “once we reclaim the mountain you will get much better beads, I promise.”

Then was the marriage braid, Bella held her breath as her husband braided the hair at her left temple “Belladonna, I promise I will do my best to look after you on this quest, and to make your life with me as comfortable as I can.”

Comfort, that was the promise, and while Bella had known that the words wouldn’t be of love she still felt saddened at the reminder that a comfortable life was the best scenario for her now.

After a moment to swallow back tears Bella turned and started to braid the hair on the left of Fili’s head. “Fili, I promise to help you win back your home, and I promise you my companionship throughout our life together.”

Exchanging a hug and another barely there kiss, Bella and Fili - husband and wife - made their way back down the aisle, followed by Kili and Lalia, Thorin and Isumbras and then Gandalf. Bella led everyone over to the party tree and the large cake that was being placed on the table. After confirming with Fili that they needed to cut the cake the couple did just that before being taken away for the official portrait.

One of Bella’s cousins, Adalgrim, was quite the artist and had them pose while he sketched outlines of several poses and details of their hair and outfits. Adalgrim had a memory for fine details and was able to use the simple sketches to create a wedding portrait that traditionally would be presented to the couple on their first anniversary. He would also have access to Bella’s dress for all the fine details stitched in as well as the bouquet and flower crowns which would all be preserved and left in Bag End until Bella and Fili could return for them.

To Fili’s surprise - although he should have known to expect this - the party was chaotic, an organised chaos yes, but still chaotic. There was a buffet of food that was constantly re-stocked if it showed signs of running low, tables were placed nearby for people to sit at for some food or drink, or to take a rest from dancing and the band on stage seemed so disorganised. The music was lively and the hobbit’s on the floor seemed to be jumping more than they were dancing. The happiness of the party was a far cry from the sombre and subdued air that was always present back home in the blue mountains, even at celebrations of weddings and births.

After sitting with the company to have a quick bite of food, Bella dragged her new husband out for a few dances, laughing as she showed him how to dance along to the upbeat music. She was pleased to learn that Fili had natural grace, which probably came from learning how to fight, and he picked up the movement rather quickly. Soon the two were spinning around the dance-floor, laughing in joy, most of the guests would remark how happy and in love the young couple were, but to those who knew better they could see the stiff space between the two and could spot the dullness in their eyes as their convincing joy didn’t quite reach their eyes.

As the party calmed down and the guest’s started to retire, Bella and Fili stood near the gift table and thanked everyone for coming. The favour the couple gave to everyone was a sugar cookie that her aunt Rosa - Adalgrim’s mother - had made and decorated with white icing and her and Fili’s names written in red calligraphy. They had received several gifts to help them make a home but all the knick-knacks and kitchen utensils and linens would all be staying behind in Bag End which would be house sat by Bella’s cousin Primula Brandybuck.

Soon the company followed Gandalf to the Took smials for the night while Bella and Fili went back to Bag End to spend their first night as a married couple.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry It's been so long. With work currently shut due to COVID-19 I was ready to be pumping out so many chapters. That has yet to happen but hopefully I can pick up the pace a bit.
> 
> Speaking about COVID-19 I hope you are all staying safe and for any fellow Aussie's I hope you haven't run out of toilet paper. 
> 
> I don't know about other countries but the amount of panic buying going on here is crazy so just a little PSA to everyone:
> 
> Don't buy what you don't need. Shops are still open, and products are still being put on shelves. If everyone stopped trying to stock up enough to survive the next 10 years then the shelves wouldn't be so bare and shops wouldn't be limiting the amount of stock they put out each day.
> 
> Like with all viruses use good hygiene and consult a doctor if you aren't feeling well, no amount of toilet paper and pasta will heal you.
> 
> Please all be safe.
> 
> Now onto the final chapter before they set off on their quest. It's a filler chapter but I wanted to look at Fili and Bella together now before the quest starts to develop. Enjoy.

Bella woke the day after her wedding alone. It was expected that now they were married they would share a bed at night, and on the road would be the same expectation. While they had not yet consummated their marriage they had awkwardly shared the bed last night. They had both laid stiffly on the edges of the bed and Bella had found it hard to fall asleep despite her exhaustion.

She took a moment, sitting in her room, to be with herself as she hadn't had much of a chance since her quest companions arrived. The party had been fun and Bella had always enjoyed dancing and celebrating with people she loved but last night she had found herself forcing joy more often than not. Especially during the traditional newly-wed dance which happened, as always, to close the party and let guests know it was acceptable for them to leave whenever they wished. While the dancing would continue the couple were expected to say goodbye to each guest and thank them with the favours.

Bella covered her shift with her robe and stepped into the hallway, she could hear Fili, her husband, in the wash room and so she continued to the kitchen to make breakfast for the two of them.

Fili had woken early and slipped out of the room without waking Bel… his wife. On his way out the back he grabbed his twin swords, ever since he had been old enough to train with his chosen weapon he had spent his mornings running drills before breakfast. After an hour of drills he had worked up quite a sweat and so stepped into the washroom. While he washed he took a few deep breaths. It would be expected that while on the journey he would take care of Bella, that she would sleep by his side, journey by his side, eat by his side. While their company were all aware of their circumstance tradition had to be upheld, and besides, it would be practice for once they reclaimed Erebor.

Bella was humming. Fili watched as she made breakfast at the stove, moving around her kitchen like a professional chef. The song she was humming sounded familiar but he couldn't quite place it, still he enjoyed this glimpse of Bella at ease, now that he could see her relaxed he realised how tense she had been the past few days as her future was set out before her.

“... darling dear, your mighty words astound me…..feel your arms around me…” Bella’s voice was soft yet he immediately picked up the words that were interspersed with her humming. It was the song they had danced to, the newly-weds official dance after the speeches had been made. Making a bit of noise Fili stepped into the kitchen, watching as Bella turned around and the humming stopped.

“Oh good morning Fili, I was just finishing up with breakfast, would you grab some plates and cutlery for us and just set them down in here, no need to move into the dining room.”

“Morning Belladonna. I uh I hope you slept well.” Fili moved to do as she asked, suddenly feeling quite awkward around her.

They ate breakfast in silence, speaking a few times to awkwardly ask the other to pass something over. Finally, as they stood to wash the dishes Bella had enough.

“Our lives are going to be quite dull if we are always awkward around each other. We are married and that’s that. We will be sharing a bed and laying next to each other for the rest of our lives, surely we can’t be awkward whenever we wake up of a morning.”

“Yes, I dare say you are quite right Belladonna, shall we endeavour to be friends then?” Fili stuck out his hand.

“Friends.” Bella agreed, grasping his hand and giving it a firm shake.

The rest of the day was spent getting to know each other while preparing for the journey. Fili had his pack ready and just had to fold up the few clothes he had taken out, his weapons were all sharpened and placed by his pack. While Bella packed her bag she tasked Fili to go through the house to make sure none of the dwarves had left anything behind. They would be meeting the rest of their company in Bree tomorrow night and would have no chance to come back if anyone had forgotten anything.

* * *

They woke early, and while Fili washed and got ready Bella made a quick breakfast of scones with fruit preserves. The leftovers will get packed up for them to munch on during their travel to Bree. In order for them to make it to Bree before dark they would not be able to stop for meals and will need to make do with snacking while riding, something Bella could tell she would have to get used to along with the lack of seven daily meals.

After Breakfast Fili cleaned up and packed up their leftover breakfast along with the meat Bella had smoked yesterday, the fruit, bread and nuts that she had pulled out of her  _ second  _ pantry yesterday. Bella moved to wash and change into some of her mother’s old travel clothes. She had a light blue blouse tucked into a simple straight brown skirt that had cleverly hidden slits on both sides to make movement and riding easy. She held up the skirt with a leather belt.

She had two more similar skirts in her pack along with three more blouses. Her mother's pack was large and the clothes were quite thin and took up little room. Her heavy winter cloak her mother had made her during the Fell Winter was rolled up at the top of the pack. When she noticed that she still had some room Bella grabbed some of her father's old trousers which looked like they would fit her, just in case, finally she grabbed some handkerchiefs she had on her nightstand.

Together the two headed out and Bella paused at the door, looking over her childhood home and closed the door, knowing that it was the end of a chapter.

They were quiet as they rode through Hobbiton, Fili wishing to offer some comfort the young lass silently stretched out his hand between them, Bella gave him a grateful smile and grasped his hand. “Thanks.”

Their journey was peaceful until they passed into Tuckborough. Several of her young cousins had run over to say goodbye to Bella and her new husband. Three young children walked alongside the couple, wanting to know everything about their adventure and while Bella and Fili happily answered their questions it wasn’t long before they were reaching the border and Bella stopped her horse.

“Alright you lot, it’s time you return home, I’m sure your parents are wondering where you’ve gotten to.”   


“Do we have to auntie Bella?”

“Paladin Took don’t make me drag you back home to your mother, I’ve done it once and I will happily do it again.”

“Auntie Bella? When I get married I won't have to do everything my parents say, will I?”

“Well, dear Esmeralda, not everything but you should still take their advice.”

“So when I marry Saradoc I can have all the adventures I want, just like you!” Fili chuckled as the young girl jumped around before grabbing the hand of the third child.

“You will marry me, right Saradoc, so that way I can have adventures, and you can come too!”

“I s’pose” the boy did not look too delighted but obviously didn’t want to upset the girl. With a giggle Esmeralda dragged the two boys off, back to the great smials and Fili and Bella set off again.

* * *

By the time they made it into Bree the sun was starting to set. Fili led Bella to the Prancing Pony and the two left their horses in the stable, Bella gave the stable hand a gold coin to give the two Ponies a brush down and some oats, ignoring Fili’s protest.

“It’s fine, Fili, I have plenty of money to spend, and besides, you are now my husband and what is mine, is yours.”

Inside the Inn they found Balin waiting to lead them to their room for the night.

“The company was planning to head down for dinner in an hour, gives you some time to wash the travel off you before joining us.”

Fili placed both of their packs to the side of the bed before turning to face Belladonna. Why don’t you wash first, it’ll take me a bit of time to get all my weapons off anyway.” 

Their room had one bed, smaller than the one they had shared the past two nights in Bella’s old room. Bella grabbed a new blouse from her bag and some fresh undergarments, but figured she could wear her current skirt for a few more days before washing it.

The washroom was small, and instead of a door there was a curtain, inside was a small tub that Bella would barely fit in, let alone Fili, a sink with a broken mirror, and a toilet. There was also a rack that had one towel on it, though thankfully it was clean. After placing her clean clothes on top of the towel she stepped back into the room, after a quick glance she spotted a pot of water over the lit fire - probably placed there by Balin - and grabbed it to fill up the tub.

Bella washed herself quickly, mindful that Fili still needed to wash, and she left her bar of soap next to the tub for him.

Stepping back into the room Bella watched as Fili shrugged off his outer layers until he was standing in his tunic and trousers.

“I’ve left some soap in there for you, and If you want any of your clothes washed just leave them in the pile with mine and I can wash them later, after I heat up more water. Also, they only gave us one towel, so I’ll just leave this to dry by the fire, let me know when you need it.” 

Fili watched as Belladonna moved to one of the small chairs by the fire, and started to brush and dry her hair. As he stepped into the washroom, he took a deep breath. He had been very aware that Bella had been naked just behind the curtain, and he couldn’t deny she was a very pretty lass. If things had been different, and he was looking just for a good time, he’d have no qualms about stepping in to help her wash, and have her help him. 

Shaking his head Fili started to scrub with the soap Belladonna had left for him to use. it smelled like her, which made sense, vanilla and honey and while normally he would not enjoy smelling so feminine, Fili could appreciate that once they were on the journey a good wash would be a luxury.

He looked at the curtain, the glow of the fire casting shadows on it, as he watched he saw Bella move in front of it, playing with her hair and as he listened he could hear her humming that same song again “.....If you will promise me your love…”

Was she aware that he could hear her? Fili doubted it. But her voice sounded nice, and a small part of him was hoping he could persuade her to sing for him, for everyone, during their journey.

Fili heaved himself out of the tub and Bella moved away towards the fire. Before he could call her for the towel she moved back into view and stuck her hand around the curtain, he could see her face turned away and walked over quickly to grab the towel, giving her a quick “thanks.”

The rest of the company was already downstairs in the dining area when Fili and Belladonna made their way down. Kili let out a cheer, jumping up to hug his brother, with a quick glance at Belladonna. “Finally, uncle wouldn’t let us order until you joined us no matter how much I might be starving, I always said he loved you more Fee.”

“Enough, Kili, now that they are here you will get your food.” Thorin gave both his nephews a fond smile before giving his new niece a polite nod, which she returned with a small smile as she watched the brothers interact.

Suddenly, it seemed, Kili’s words caught up to her.

“Oh goodness me, starving, we can't have that. Let me see what can be done about that.” And before anyone could say anything, she turned and walked over to the nearest barmaid.

Fili followed his wife, he knew the type of people who often wound up in places like this, and Bella looked like the perfect target.

“...make sure there is plenty of meat in the stew, and some bread rolls for everyone to share, some of your best ale, some roast potatoes with onion and tomatoes and once that's finished up we’ll have some coffee and a blueberry pie and an apple pie that we can share amongst ourselves.” Once again, Bella opened her money pouch and handed the women a few coins before Fili could “that should be enough for the meal, and I will pay you for the ale tomorrow once we’ve had breakfast, I can only guess how much they may drink and for how long after I retire for bed.”

Once the barmaid turned for the kitchen Bella turned back around and gave a little start as she realised Fili was behind her. He gestured for her to walk back in front of him and once back at the table, he pulled out her chair, sitting her between himself and Kili.

“What were you two doing off by yourselves?” Bofur asked, a suggestive smile on his face. Dori elbowed the miner as Fili informed them that Belladonna had been ordering, and paying, for their meal.

Bella put her hands up to stop the dwarves arguing “Please, as I told Fili, I have more than enough money, and he is my husband, that makes you my kin, I am a Hobbit, and when it comes to food i simply can’t let people starve. Besides, if one of you had tried to order you would have been treated with suspicion, and the price likely would have been higher.”

They could not fault her logic, even less so when the hearty meal was placed before them. By the time they were on dessert, they had all forgotten why they had been against her paying in the first place.

  
  


Bella stayed downstairs after dessert for an hour, they were all talking and sharing funny stories. Soon though it became more of a series of drinking games and contests and so she headed back upstairs to her and Fili’s room after saying her goodnight and telling Fili to stay with his kin if he wished to.

Once back in their room Bella wanted to get straight into bed, but there was some washing to be done. She had placed more water to heat over the fore before heading down for dinner and she grabbed it now, filling the tub again and giving her clothes and Fili’s a thorough scrub.

She was just hanging everything over the grate in front of the fire and the chairs as well, when Fili walked in. She heard him saying goodbye to Kili and Ori out in the hall before shutting the door. 

For a moment they both looked at the small bed. The past two nights they had been able to avoid touching each other in Bella’s large bed, but they would not be able to in this one. Bella moved first, she could see Fili waiting for her to make the decision of what she would be comfortable with. Once she got into bed she gestured for him to jump in as well.

“It will be like this for the journey I’m sure, besides, we are both tired and we can both use a good rest before we set off tomorrow.” 

Once they were both situated on their backs, their entire sides touching, they said soft goodnights to each other while Bella fell into sleep quickly, Fili was quite aware of how close they were to each other. Soon though, he too fell into sleep, Bella’s soft breathing lulling him to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you may have noticed over the past chapters and this one, I switch between 'Bella' and 'Belladonna'.
> 
> when the story is focusing on Bella and her thoughts or observations she refers to herself as 'Bella', because for her whole life that's what she was called. Her reasoning for going by Belladonna now will be explained during the story.
> 
> When it is Gandalf or one of her family members I tried to use 'Belladonna' but I'm not sure if I occasionally slipped in a 'Bella' but if I did then thats fine since having known her as 'Bella' it makes sense for them to occasionally slip up.
> 
> As for the Dwarves, they all refer to her as 'Belladonna' because that is what she introduced herself as. 
> 
> This chapter you may have noticed Fili slip a few times and think of her as 'Bella' the idea is that as they grow closer he slips up and thinks of her less formally. I tried to keep it to moment's when it was between them, more personal or intimate, like when he was in the bath, but over time it will be happening more often.


	7. Chapter 7

The following morning had everyone rising early and having a quick breakfast before setting off at a demanding pace.Bella found herself at the back of the group, beside Ori with Fili and Kili in front of her.

The brothers were joking amongst themselves, jostling each other, throwing leaves and sticks they had picked off low hanging tree branches. They were close and for that she envied them.

“Miss Belladonna, may I ask, it’s just, well, I know that you and Fili were an arranged match but is that quite normal for hobbits?” Ori asked, interrupting Bella’s thoughts. In front of them the brothers quieted down.

“Sometimes, Master Ori. Usually though there is still affection between the two parties. A marriage is only arranged when a girl who inherits an estate loses her parents before she is wed. In my case I lost my parents five years ago, I was 31 and not yet of age. However, once I turned 33 and so reached my majority, the countdown started. The rule is either three years after your father passes or three years after your majority you must at least be engaged to someone or else you lose your estate and your inheritance to the closest relative.” By now, Fili and Kili had slowed down slightly and moved their ponies to ride beside Ori and Bella.  “Everyone in the shire knows everyone, so it is more common that by the time a hobbit lass is 33 she already has a beau, as unofficial as it is until they are allowed to court. And if they are in a situation like mine it would be normal for there to be some sort of happiness between the two. Bobby Bolger was the only one who would attempt to court me, I was considered a wild girl growing up and most of the boys I was friends with were cousins. Bobby Bolger was quite dull and only cared for the status of my estate as he was the fourth son in his family and would not inherit much. He made it known that he was ‘courting’ me and while I never allowed it to be official I could not outright refuse him as he was my only prospect. He was planning on proposing next month the night before my 36th birthday, when it would be too late for me to say no.”

Ori, Yavanna bless him, looked quite sad for her, though he was also taking notes, no doubt for his recording of the quest. Fili reached over and gave her hand a squeeze. 

“Well, at least you escaped that, Belladonna, and I have no need for your estate when I have a kingdom I will inherit one day.” and with another squeeze and a laugh from Kili, the two brothers resumed their positions in front of Bella and Ori.

The reminder that Fili was a prince did not have the effect he hoped for though. For Bella it was a reminder that despite her no longer losing everything to either Bobby or the Sackville-Baggins’ she would not be able to return to it either. At least, not as she would like to.

Fili was silent as he and his brother moved ahead again. Bella had looked quite lost while telling her story, he knew that she had been ready to enter another contractual marriage before they had arrived that night but now that he understood more of her perspective he found he regretted his words to her that night in Bag End.

“You seem far away brother” Kili’s voice invaded his mind and Fili turned to look at him with a smile.

“I was just thinking brother, that is all.”

Kili leant in closer and lowered his voice “about Miss Baggins?”

“She is no longer Miss Baggins now, Kili, she is my wife. And yes, if you must know, I was thinking about her, or rather, thinking on what she just told us and how similar it is to our lives. No friends who weren’t our relatives, people only seeing our titles rather than us. It is something I would not have wished on anyone, let alone someone as kind as Bella. Belladonna.” and before his brother could notice his slip, Fili nudged his pony to go faster moving to trot beside Dwalin.

* * *

Fili did not think much on his brother calling his wife Miss Baggins until nearly a week later, as they were on watch.

As always, he and Kili had their bed rolls placed near each other, and Belladonna was sleeping on her roll next to his. He had seen her shiver and moved to place his blanket over her when she started awake at the shrieks they could hear in the air.

“What was that?” Bella looked at him, still somewhat sleepy. Before he could tell her it was nothing and to go back to sleep, Kili spoke up.

“Orcs.”

“Orcs!” Bella jumped up at that, fear taking over her gaze as she looked out into the night.

“Aye, throat cutters the lot of them. the lowlands will be crawling with them. They strike in the night, while you’re asleep, quick and quiet, no screams, just blood.”

As Bella turned to face Fili his brother let out a soft snort.

“And you think that’s funny, do you. A night raid by orcs a joke.” Thorin stepped toward them, his annoyance at his nephew clear on his face.

“Sorry uncle, didn’t mean anything by it.” Kili looked suitably chastised as he glanced away from Thorin. As Fili watched, Bella’s face dropped as she realised her brother-in-law had been playing with her. With a soft smile towards Fili, Bella stepped away from her bed roll and towards the ponies, as he watched Fili could see Belladonna sneak Myrtle an apple.

"Cheer up laddie, your uncle has more reason than most to hate orcs." Balin moved over to the brothers now and started to tell everyone the story of the battle at Moria. Slowly Bella drifted back to her roll and she sat down next to Fili, who reached out and gave her hand a squeeze. She gave him a small smile in answer to his silent question, half listening to Balin's tale and half wondering at how her and Fili seemed to find it easy to read one another.

* * *

The next few days did not come with any improvements for the company. They traveled in near constant rain for four days, the sun not staying out long enough to start drying them off. 

The first break in rain they had on the first day Thorin had ordered them to set up a quick fire and cook up a quick meal to warm them up before the rain started again. Bella had used the opportunity to duck behind a tree and change out of her travel skirt and into a pair of her trousers. The trousers would stick to her legs once wet but the skirt got heavy and clung to her legs uncomfortably. The whole company had looked surprised when she walked back over to them, draping her skirt over a log near the fire to dry as much as possible before she put it back into her pack.

"Miss Belladonna, is it customary for a female hobbit to wear trousers?" Dori asked her as he handed her a bowl of soup.

"Not exactly. Most of the time female hobbits take care of the home, cooking, cleaning, shopping and taking care of faunts. It is the males who work out in the fields and farms. Sometimes though a female will have to work outside because the men of the family are busy elsewhere or because the family only has female children or has only one or two male children. Ifa female is to be labouring out in the fields and on the farm it was discovered rather quickly that skirts can be more of a hindrance. 

I was lucky that we didn't have fields or farms to work, rather our tenants did so for us, in exchange they would keep 30% of what was gathered and a further 20% of profits made from selling the rest at markets. My mother however, being a Took and all, was quite adventurous and would travel wearing trousers sometimes and when I was a child you would often see me running around with my Took and Brandybuck cousins and I'd be wearing trousers." Bella finally felt her soup was cool enough and began to spoon it into her mouth, realising how hungry she had been before they had stopped. The Dwarves took it as a sign that the conversation was over and drifted off to relax before they were to take off again.

* * *

It was the third day when Dori asked Gandalf if he could stop the rain and despite knowing how unlikely that would be a part of Fili hoped that Gandalf would be able to do it. 

When Gandalf instead informed them to find another wizard Fili could see the rest of the company slump further into their cloaks.

"Are there many other wizards?" Belladonna was a very curious lady Fili had noticed, always looking to know more. She had been swapping information with Ori a few times as they had been riding, and while Ori was smart he had yet to notice that Bella was giving him far less information than Ori was giving her. Not that it was harmful in any way, Bella needed to know everything she could about dwarrow and her future people, but Ori did not  _ need _ to know everything about hobbits. Bella simply confirmed or denied his questions about the information he had read in a few books in the library of Ered Luin.

"There is the head of our order, Saruman the white, then there are the two blue wizards though I've quite forgotten their names. Lastly is radagast the Brown." Gandalf was replying to Belladonna and Fili noticed the spark in her eye and he knew she was about to sharpen her wit.

"And are they good wizards or are they more like you?" 

Fili chuckled as Gandalf flinched at the innocent sounding question from Bella, the rest of the dwarves making exclamations of surprise that the young lass had actually said such a thing. Fili could spot his brother holding back a laugh as he gave Belladonna a glare before quickening his pony to ride up beside Thorin. Fili sighed, he would have to talk to his brother soon about his attitude towards Bella, it would not do to have him angry at her for the rest of their quest and then once they were living in Erebor.

* * *

When they finally had a day dawn without rain Fili volunteered to ride at the back with Kili. Bella was riding with Bofur and Bombur near the front, exchanging recipes and various cooking secrets.

“Kili, we need to talk about Belladonna”

“What about her?” Kili’s face instantly hardened, the cheerful grin disappearing.

“Kee, it’s not hard to see that you don’t like her, and I can’t think of why that is.”

“Because she’s taken your chance of happiness away. Yes we knew that political marriages were likely our futures, but that was still years away, years during which you could have found your one. And Belladonna didn’t intend on going on this quest at all until the marriage contract was brought up, all she cares about is having a husband so that she can keep her house, which she won't even be able to live in. she doesn’t care that she has taken your chance of happiness away.”

Fili sighed as he glanced from his brother towards his wife, Bella was laughing at something Bofur was saying and she looked quite happy despite the tension he could see lining her shoulders.

“Kili, I get where you’re coming from, I do, but the likelihood of me finding my one is nearly impossible, and I had made my peace with a political marriage years ago. Bella is a nice person, and she didn’t have to agree to the contract at all, she had a suitor waiting. She agreed because she wanted to help. As for the house, well, it can be a place to stay if we ever visit the Shire, especially since the contract has us continuing relations with the hobbits. And she also saved her entire estate, her inheritance, everything that belonged to her parents and to her, things she would have lost if she didn’t marry. 

Look, Kee, I get that you don’t like her, and maybe you will never like her, but please try. For me, I don’t want my brother and wife to be enemies and I want any future child of mine to know their uncle.”

Kili looked away, over at Belladonna before speaking “Alright, for you, to make you happy.”

“Thank you Kili”

That evening Thorin called a halt as they neared an old farmhouse. Bella was relieved to be out of the saddle and was quite hungry so she moved to help Bombur with dinner preparations in the hope that it would be ready sooner. She glanced up once, as Gandalf stalked off, grumbling about stubborn dwarves, and when she called out after him she received no reply. Fili and Kili were sent to look after the ponies so while the soup was cooking Bella set up her sleeping roll and then set up the brothers rolls as well. 

Bofur asked her to take some soup to Fili and Kili so she grabbed her bowl as well, figuring she would eat with them, hoping to get talking with Kili and improve their relationship.

The two brothers were standing still, staring ahead at the ponies when Bella approached. They didn’t react to her presence even as she waved the bowls of soup under their noses.

“What’s wrong?”

* * *

Bella was going to Kill her husband and his brother. Trolls. They left her alone to deal with trolls. And now she was being stuffed into a sack alongside several of the company members while the rest were trussed up on a log spit over the fire. As she was tossed aside Bella landed on top of Fili, giving him a glare she rolled off of him and into a sitting position, trying to listen to what the trolls were saying.

"It's almost dawn, I'm hungry. Lets just eat them raw." And one of the trolls turned around and picked up Bombur.

Bella surged to her feet, the troll's words reminding her of information she had once read. "Don't eat that one, he's infected."

She forced herself to keep a straight face as the troll dropped her friend in disgust.

"In fact they all do, all of them infected I wouldn't risk it really."

"Infected with what?" The troll who was cooking asked, looking at her in mild worry.

"Parasites." That set the dwarves off, all of them grumbling about not being Infected. Bella sent both Thorin a pleading look and he kicked Kili and Oin to shut them up.

"I've got parasites as big as my arm!" Oin yelled over the top of the rest of the dwarves and soon they were all declaring they were riddled with worms.

"Like I said" Bella stated, as their declarations died down "I wouldn't risk it. I've been following them for days, waiting for a chance to take them and cook them up. Wild dwarf is highly saught after by is burglahobbits and I would have made a good bit of money selling off the smoked dwarf meat that I didn't eat myself. Imagine my disappointment when I learnt that they were infected, and not with a parasite that I could just cook out but with one that poisons the whole body. And I had been hoping to cook one in a lovely stew for myself, with some lemon and rosemary, maybe a bit of elf blood for some extra flavour, or course not to forget the pigs eye that I've got on me somewhere here…"

Thankfully Gandalf chose that moment to appear and crack one of the boulders that surround them. Daylight streamed in and slowly the trolls turned to stone. 


	8. Chapter 8

Fili found himself worried over Belladonna as his uncle checked over both himself and Kili. Bella had given him a glance and seeing that he was in one piece had walked over to Gandalf to thank him for his timely save. There had been no smile and acknowledgement beyond that and Fili was at a loss as to why that was. He had thought they were becoming friends, now she looked at him the same way she had when they had first met.

Bella was worried sick. Her friends, at least she thought they were, had nearly been eaten alive and all because she had failed to free the ponies. Fili was looking at her now, a worried expression on his face, she turned away, looking instead to where Gandalf stood with Thorin, frowning as she picked up on their conversation.

“...No thanks to your burglar Gandalf”

“She at least had the Nous to play for time, none of the rest of you managed that.”

Thorin gave a slight nod at Gandalf’s words “Yes, she did manage to distract them well, still, the situation she got us in was not favourable.”

Before Gandalf could respond a shout from Nori had everyone turning to look over at where he and Bifur were exploring.

“Oi, There’s a cave over here!”

As Bella watched Gandalf he turned to Thorin “That would explain how the Trolls managed to get down here from the Ettenmoors.”

* * *

Fili caught Bella’s arm as she stepped away from Gandalf, a small sword in her hands which was likely once a dagger for someone much taller than her.

“Hey, Bell, are you ok? You’ve been very quiet and keeping to yourself.”

“I… I’m fine, Fili, I just… I’m a bit tired I guess… are you ok? And your brother?” Bella refused to acknowledge Fili’s slip over her name, it wasn’t anything but a slip up and it didn’t mean anything.

Fili smiled. He was lucky that Bella was such a nice person, she cared for others before she cared for herself and he was glad that she was who he would be spending his life with and they would become close friends he was sure. “Kili is fine, a little wounded pride but he will survive. I’m good too, just worried about my wife, she doesn’t seem too happy despite being safe right now.”

“But I’m not safe Fili. None of us really are on this quest and unlike the rest of you I have no experience in living like this. And the one person who I thought would understand and watch out for me and help me left me to face three trolls last night while he ran away with his brother.” Fili froze, his face falling as he registered Bella’s words, she shook her head and let out a soft sigh “Don’t worry about me Fili, I’ll manage.” 

Fili let her walk away, over to Oin and Gloin asking how the troll hoard had been. He had failed her. They hadn’t been married a full month yet and he had already failed her. She was right, he had left her to face the trolls despite knowing that she was in no way prepared to do so.

A yell distracted him from his thoughts and he jumped up, his hands moving to unsheathe his weapons, that had been Bella who had yelled and he wasn’t going to fail her again. His eyes found her and he moved over to her before he took in the rabbit pulled sled and the person on top of it.

“Radagast! My friend what are you doing here?” Gandalf moved forward and led the wizard to the side. Fili lowered his weapons and turned to Bell.

“Are you…”

“I'm fine, Fili.” Fili watched in confusion as Bella brushed him off and walked over to Dwalin but before she reached him a howl pierced the air. “Was that a wolf? Please tell me that was a wolf.”

“No lass” Bofur replied, gripping his axe tighter.

Suddenly a large warg burst through the bushes and jumped at Bella. Kili shot an arrow at it and Fili finished it off with a blow to the neck.

“Warg scouts” Thorin spat “there will be an orc pack not far behind.”

“You are being hunted.” 

* * *

Bella was tired. And sore. And hungry. And out of breath. They had been running for what felt like an age. Gandalf finally found them a hidden cave to hide in and one by one they all slid into it. Soon it was only Fili, Kili and Thorin still above and Bella was worried. She let out a sigh of relief as they all slid in only to jump back with a scream as a dead warg fell through at the same time that they heard a horn blast up above.

Thorin moved to inspect the arrow before letting out a curse “elves.”

“I think I see a way out, do we follow it?” Dwalin called from the back of the cave.

“Follow it!” Bofur answered, pushing his way through the group to stand near Dwalin. Throin didn’t look too happy at the idea but Fili and Kili both moved forward to follow the path.

“It’s either follow the path or risk going back up where the orcs could return.” Bella said, giving Thorin a small shrug. She would go where Fili went, as his wife that was her duty but she considered him a friend as well and she trusted him.

During the walk through the tight cliffs Bella found herself walking behind Kili and in front of Fili. her brother-in-law was limping slightly, the action so miniscule no one else appeared to have noticed it.

“Are you ok Kili? I just noticed you have a small limp, were you injured?”

“No.” Kili’s voice was short and gruff, the usual tone of humour non-existent now.

“Oh ok, sorry then, I was just worried and was going to offer some bandages if you didn’t want the others to know.” Bella knew enough about Fili to know that he didn’t want to fail Thorin and to make him regret letting them on the journey. Kili would likely be the same. But despite the hostility she had noticed in Kili when he interacted with her she did not wish for him to harm himself further by hiding or ignoring an injury.

Kili paused for a moment before he continued walking, lowering his voice slightly so that only she and Fili would hear “I jarred my knee when I jumped into the cave, it’s fine, already it doesn’t hurt as much as it did.”

Bella turned to look at Fili, noticing the relief in his eyes, when he noticed her staring he nodded his head and mouthed ‘thank you’ to her. So he had noticed the limp as well. But unlike Bella he probably planned to wait until he could talk to Kili away from the company no matter how much he may have worried about his brother before then.

They continued walking, squeezing through the rocks at times because of all their bags and equipment. Bella could feel something calming washing over her as they continued down the path. Finally she turned to Gandalf who was bringing up the rear behind Fili. “Gandalf, where are we?”

“So you can feel it Belladonna? I’m not surprised, your mother was able to as well.”

“Feel what?” Fili asked, turning to look at gandalf and then back at Bella.

“It feels like, well magic but not. More like nature, like the shire but more. More strong, more ancient, I don't know… but it’s calming sort of reminds me of home.” Bella was wistful, she had been out of the shire for nearly a whole month and for the first time she felt homesick.

She shook her head to get rid of her thoughts of home, and continued to walk, letting the calm wash over her and relax her. Finally they rounded a corner and found themselves in the open. Bella was in awe, they were surrounded by massive cliffs and the valley was full of trees, the buildings were interspersed amongst the forest, existing together in harmony. And there was a waterfall. Bella, like most hobbits, wasn't a fan of water that she could drown in, unlike other hobbits though her parents had made sure she knew how to swim. It was beautiful.

“Are we in Rivendell?” she breathed out, not wishing to disturb the peaceful atmosphere.

“Yes dear Belladonna, welcome everyone to Rivendell, the Last Homely House east of the sea.” Gandalf walked forward, towards Thorin, who turned to Gandalf, anger written across his face.

“This was your plan all along, to bring us to our enemy. Do you really believe that they will allow our quest to continue? They will try to stop us.”

“We shall see about that, but we have questions that must be answered and Lord Elrond is one of the few who can answer them.”

With a warning to let him do the talking Gandalf led the company down the path and into a large open courtyard. An elf made his way down to Ganalf, calling out a greeting. Bella could see Thorin and Dwalin tense up as they watched the elf, Lindir, Gandalf had called him.

“My Lord Elrond is not currently at home” Lindir informed Gandalf, before anything more could be said a horn sounded and horses raced in, circling the company. Bella was pulled into the centre of the group by Fili and Kili and Dori thrust Ori in with her. The two of them shared an eye roll before listening to the commotion. Finally it died down and they could hear Gandalf greeting someone new.

“Ah Lord Elrond!”

Soon the two began to speak in elvish and while the dwarves around them grumbled, Bella informed Ori that Elrond was informing Gandalf that he had been hunting orcs.

“Strange for orcs to travel so near, something has drawn them here.” the elf lord stated, handing over his sword to Lindir.

“That may have been us” Gandalf replied, gesturing to the company. Thorin stepped forward, allowing Bella and Ori to move out of the circle, Fili tried to pull Bella back in but she side stepped his hand.

Elrond stepped forward, coming down on his knee to speak with her “Belladonna Took, it has been a long time since we last met, strange company you have with you though.”

Fili watched as Bella’s eyes misted over and he moved forward to offer her comfort. The elf glanced at where he stood, his hand brushing against Bella’s. Finally Bella replied, her voice soft “I am Belladonna Baggins, my mother was Belladonna Took, before she married my father. She would tell me often of her adventures here before she…”

Bella turned her head, accepting Fili’s hug as she silently let out the tears that had gathered. Fili watched as grief flitted across the elf lords face before his expression settled back to being blank. Slowly Elrond stood before turning to Thorin.

“Welcome Thorin, son of Thrain.”

Thorin stepped forward “I do not believe we have met.”

“You have your grandfather’s bearing, I knew Thror when he ruled under the mountain.”

“Indeed?” Thorin sneered “He made no mention of you.”

Fili gave a soft chuckle as he heard Bella groan in response to what his uncle had said. Elrond looked over the rest of the company before saying something in elvish.

“What does he say? Is he offering us insults?” Gloin shouted, all the dwarves reacting as well.

Bella pulled herself free of Fili and with a smile stated “No Gloin, he is offering us food, and I for one, am going to accept. Come along Fili, Kili, Ori lets get some food.” 

As Fili followed his wife with his brother and friend the others all let out noises of agreement and started to follow along.

* * *

After a very eventful meal, during which Bofur sang a tavern song, Kili winked at an elf he thought was female and a food fight had started, Elrond instructed Lindir to show them to some rooms in the east wing.

They were shown to an open space surrounded by six rooms and a communal wash room. Before leaving them to sort themselves out Lindir pointed at one of the rooms.

“This room here has its own washroom, I might suggest allowing the lady to use that room.” And with that he swept out of the hall, muttering in elvish about uncouth creatures.

Nori gave Bella a nudge forward towards the room and Bofur gave Fili one as well. Fili and Bella entered, followed by catcalls from the rest of the company.

“Off you go, newly weds, enjoy your room.”

That evening Thorin, Balin and Gandalf went to meet with Elrond to discuss the map and Fili pulled his brother into the room he and Bella were sharing.

“Alright Kili, how’s your knee doing, and don't tell me it’s fine because I saw you limping after your bath and you aren’t putting any weight on it now.”

“it's ok, it still hurts to put pressure on it and occasionally when I bend it. But it’s not as bad as it was, I can tell it’s nothing serious.”

The brothers jumped as the door opened, only to relax as Bella stepped in. Fili quickly explained that he was asking Kili about his knee.

“Oh, right, I have some bandages and I managed to talk to an elf about getting some medicinal herbs and plants. If you let me have a look at it Kili I might be able to help you out, I promise I won’t tell anyone if you ask me not to.”

Kili glanced at his brother and Fili nodded at him. Bella would keep her promise, she was an honest person and would not betray anyone's trust.

“Ok. yeah that would be great actually.” Kili looked relieved at the thought of having his knee looked at and Fili wondered how bad it may actually be. He was able to tell when moments later his brother rolled up his trouser leg and showed them his knee.

Bella poked at Kili’s knee a few time before asking him to extend his leg a couple of times, then she asked him to stand and slowly put pressure on it before it became too much. Finally she dug a bandage out of her bag as well as a couple of plants and grabbed a small bowl from the table in the room. The mixed the plants into a paste with some water before spreading the paste over the slightly swollen and red knee. Finally she bandaged it tightly.

“Ok, that should help ease the pain, the knee was slightly swollen, it looks like you gave it a good knock, maybe tweaked a muscle. The paste should help with the swelling and the bandage will keep you from moving your knee too much.”

“Thanks Belladonna.” Kili said, giving her a small smile before heading out the door to join the others. Fili thanked her as well as he washed the remaining paste out of the bowl.

“It was no problem Fili” Bella replied “he is your brother, which makes him my family now. And anyway if someone is hurt I’m going to do whatever I can to help them, regardless of how they may feel about me.”

Fili froze. Bella must have picked up on Kili’s feelings towards her, which really shouldn’t have surprised him. Bella was a smart girl, intuitive and got along with people easily, she would have noted Kili’s feelings before Fili even realised something was off. “Kili doesn’t hate you or anything Belladonna, he just doesn’t like that I had to enter a marriage contract without having a chance to find my one. But he promised me he won't hold that against you, he’s just young, that's all.”

“Your one?”

“Dwarves believe that some of us are lucky enough to have a perfect person, our other half, somewhere out there, created for us by Mahal. Most dwarves never find their one and for royalty or at least high ranking dwarves it's almost impossible because marriage is always political. Some dwarves say you just know the minute you lay eyes on each other, others say you learn it over time. Our amad told us she hated our adad when they first met, but soon they became friends. It wasn’t until later after they were informed they were to enter a political marriage and forced to spend more time together that any real feelings grew and that was when they both realised they were each other's one. Adad always said that Mahal knows what he is doing and we are put in circumstances that lead us to our ones.” Fili watched as Bella looked at him in apology.

“I'm so sorry that I took that chance away from you Fili, I feel horrible. If I had known I would not have agreed to this marriage at all.”

“It’s fine Bella! I would have been allowed to say no if I did not want to do this, uncle would not have been able to force me. I chose to do this and I don't regret it in any way Bell.”

Thorin and Balin returned and asked the company to gather around, informing them that they would be spending the next two weeks in Rivendell while they waited for the correct moon to appear in order for the moon runes to be read.

Bella turned to Fili and smiled “That means our one month anniversary will pass while we are here, maybe Lord Elrond will allow for us to have a nice dinner to celebrate!”

“Celebrate one month? Is this a custom amongst hobbits?” Fili asked, confused. He had been aware that they were approaching one month but he did not realise that he was expected to celebrate it.

“In a way… hobbits celebrate after a month of marriage because most of the time the couple also announce they are expecting their first child. It has just become a habit I guess to celebrate even without an announcement.” 

It was Kili who spoke up next “Well, since that is what is done amongst hobbits and because we are going to be here, I say we do it, a nice dinner, maybe some music, it would be nice before we have to set off again.”

“I agree, it won't hurt us to do it and if Bella is the one who speaks to Lord Elrond I'm sure she can ensure there will be some meat instead of all the green stuff.” Fili added, knowing that while they would dislike having to ask the elves for help to do this the company would suffer through it if it meant they would get some meat.

* * *

It was on their eighth night in Rivendell that their anniversary fell and the dinner took place. Elrond had placed Fili and Bella on a table raised up a few steps with Gandalf, Thorin, Kili and himself and his family. The rest of the company were on two tables just below them and then various elves were seated behind them. There was soft music flowing through the forest and lighting among the trees, Bella had remarked that it looked to be out of a fairy story and Fili found he agreed.

Bella was glowing in the light, her auburn hair was left out save for her two braids, the braids were clasped at the back of her head to help keep the curls from her face. Fili had done her hair for her after she had washed it that afternoon, it had been the first time he had done so and he doubted Bella understood the importance and the intimacy of that act when she had asked for him to fix her braids and her hair.

She was wearing one of her travel dresses and yet Fili found himself staring at her more than he would like to admit, Kili kept having to nudge him out of his trances.

As dinner wound down Elrond leant over to speak with Bella. “Your mother would often sing for us when she was here, I wonder would you regale us with a song Belladonna? Gandalf has informed me that you sing as beautifully as your mother.”

It took some calls of encouragement from the various members of the company, Gandalf remarking that “your mother and father would want you to sing again my dear” and a nod and smile from Fili for Bella to stand up and walk over to the minstrels. After a quick conversation with them she turned to face everyone and Elrond raised his hand to signal for silence.

“This is a song my mother used to sing to me when I was little…”

Bella began to sing, and the minstrels joined 

I'd a pluck a fair rose for my love

I'd a pluck a red rose blowin'

Love's in my heart, I'm tryin' so to prove

What your heart's knowin'

I'd a pluck a finger on a thorn

I'd a pluck a finger bleedin'

Red is my heart, wounded and forlorn

And your heart needin'

I'd a hold a finger to my tongue

I'd a hold a finger waitin'

My heart is sore, until it joins in song

With your heart matin'

My heart is sore, until it joins in song

With your heart matin'

  
  


She sounded beautiful, Fili thought, like a bell chiming on the wind. Once she finished the song Fili was the first to stand and clap, congratulating her once she made it back to the table. Bofur decided that he too would sing a song and Nori and Gloin decided to join in and they sang several tavern songs which even several elves got up and danced too. Fili sat back next to Bella and laughed along as he watched, still they could not compare to Bella, to his silver bell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had not intended to have Bella sing at all really, there was a thought about having Fili call her his silver bell but nothing really stuck. Then a few days ago I was re-watching a few episodes of Poldark and the song made me think of Bella and Fili.  
> Heres the link to the song if you want to know how it sounds  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0lZExee7_o


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while. I keep sitting down to write and I have all these ideas and yet can't get them down. Good news is after 2 days of a massive headache I missed being able to write so much that I finished up this chapter and got a good start on the next as well as a plan for the next few to come.
> 
> Plus I would also like to thank everyone who has been reading this fic and all the Kudos and comments! I honestly wrote this because there isn't enough Fili/Bella and also because I knew this is something I would like to read and figure that I may as well write it.
> 
> Special thanks to Jackie and Arlena_81 who have commented on I think every chapter (or close to it) you guys rock!
> 
> I love being able to hear people's thoughts on this fic and honestly sometimes the comments give me ideas to work into the story to help flesh it out in ways I hadn't thought of.   
> I haven't responded to everyones comments but I really do love and appreciate all of the responses to my fic whether its a comment or a kudos or just clicking on and reading it so thanks again everyone!

Fili woke on their last day in Rivendell to the sound of someone knocking on the door. Bella was still asleep next to him, facing away from him towards the window, so he got out of bed as quietly as possible and opened the door, shushing whoever it was before he had it even halfway open.

Thorin stood in the doorway, both confused and put out from being shushed. Fili stepped into the main room with his uncle, pulling the door closed behind him and nodding hello to Balin who was standing behind his uncle.

“Morning uncle, morning Balin, what seems to be the problem?” Fili yawned as he finished speaking, shaking his head slightly in an effort to wake up faster.

“Morning Fili. Thorin and I were discussing the reading of the moon runes tonight and we decided that it would be best for you to accompany your uncle instead of myself as this will be a chance for you to gain some experience, especially in dealing with elves.” Balin spoke, giving Fili a warm smile. Fili had learnt nearly everything about being a prince from Balin and to see his teacher still finding ways to help him made him quite happy.

Thorin waited for Fili to agree before he continued on from Balin “You may also wish to see if Belladonna would like to join, as much as I do not like the idea of a hobbit hearing our secrets on top of having an elf read it for us, she is your wife and will need to learn how to be our princess and future queen.”

“That does seem smart, very well, I will speak with her once she wakes up and let you know but I am sure she will agree.” After waiting to see if his uncle had anymore to say Fili headed back into his and Bella’s room.

His wife was still asleep after he finished up in the washroom. As peaceful as she looked Fili knew he needed to wake her, not only to ask if she would accompany him and Thorin tonight, but also because if she didn’t wake soon Bella would miss breakfast. She woke quickly and headed straight into the washroom as soon as Fili mentioned food.

Fili smiled, packing away the few objects both he and Bella had taken out of their packs over their two week stay. They had spent most of their time together, joined often by Kili and Ori and occasionally other members of their company - Nori had been testing Bella’s burglarizing abilities. He had learnt quite a bit about his wife, like how she could eat as much as Bombur and still be hungry, and he had shared several stories of his life with her. He had also been teaching her Khuzdul and Iglishmek, as his wife and a member of the royal family it was acceptable that she learn the languages of her new people. For now she was learning the basics, anything that she may need to know for the quest and once they retook the mountain. He was taking a risk considering they still had not consummated their marriage and as such the union could still be broken, but only Kili was aware of that fact and he had been the one to suggest teaching Bella anyway. 

_ “We have no idea what will happen on this quest, and should something happen to you Belladonna would be expected to step into your place. And once we retake Erebor and uncle calls Dain, she will need to prove she can lead at your side just as well as any Dwarrow-Dam or else we could end up facing a revolt.” Kili said to him as Nori stole Bella for some burglar lessons. _

_ “I agree Kili, I do, but we have not yet consummated our marriage and as such she can still walk away from our union.” _

_ “But you can’t wait until then, when will you be able to consummate before we reach Erebor? Belladonna needs to know at least the basics, things that make sense for her to learn on the journey.” _

It had been only a handful of two hour lessons with Fili, Balin and Ori but Bella had been picking it up quickly. She was quite the clever hobbit, his wife.

“Bell, Dori just stopped by, the elves will be delivering breakfast in a few minutes.” Bella was startled out of her day dreams by Fili’s knock on the door. She had been taking her time, soaking in the tub and washing her hair and skin with the rose scented oil she had ‘borrowed’ from one of the bath houses during her last lesson with Nori. It would be the last chance she had for a long while to indulge in a proper bath and so she was enjoying it. A small part of her mind had wondered if Fili would notice the scent of the oil on her and an even smaller part wondered if he would like it. But Bella was ignoring those thoughts, at least she was trying to, until Fili knocked on the door and called her Bell.

“Yes, give me a moment and I will be out.” Bella stepped out of the tub, shaking her head and drying herself off as quickly as possible before throwing on a travel skirt and blouse. As she entered back into the bedroom she noticed that Fili had repacked both of their bags and she smiled. He was a very thoughtful person, her husband, and she was glad of that fact.

Bella sat down in front of the small mirror and started to brush through her hair, getting rid of the knots that seemed to always exist. Just as Bella was getting frustrated with all the knots in her hair Fili’s hands replaced hers and he took over brushing her hair for her. He had only done it that one time, the night of their one month dinner but Bella found she enjoyed the feeling of Fili running both the brush and his hands through her hair. He placed her two braids in before pulling the rest of her hair into a manageable standard braid, she could tell already that it would probably last a few days before she needed to re-do it which would get them to the pass through the misty mountains where she could ask Fili to fix it up for her again.

“Bella, I feel that I should explain to you, that is…” Fili was mumbling so Bella turned in her seat and placed a hand on his arm.

“Go on, Fili, whatever it is, you can tell me”

“Well, you know that braids are important to us dwarves, but it is not just that, the act of caring for one's hair is considered quite an intimate gesture, reserved for family and….”

“And your husband or wife?”

“Yes, Bell, I feel I should have explained this when you asked me to help the other night, and then I just took over for you now without you knowing the meaning behind your allowance of it.” Fili looked quite despondent now and Bella found that she did not like the look on him. Despite her slight embarrassment at the intimate moments she had unknowingly experienced with Fili Bella simply shook her head and gave him a slight smile.

“It is not a fault of yours, I should have realised, really. I have seen you all helping with each other's hair but now that I think on it I can remember that it was only within family groups. And I know braiding is an important part of your culture so I should have thought before I asked you.

But, I am not upset by it, if you do not wish to help then that is ok, but if you do not object to it, I should like for you to help me, and I would be happy to help you - as lacking as my skills may be.”

Fili didn’t know how to respond, he had enjoyed fixing Bella’s hair for her, but now that she knew the meaning behind such actions wanted to continue, and had offered to help with his, he wasn’t sure how to respond. There was a part of him that wanted to deny it, because suddenly it felt much more real in a way that their relationship was not. But an even larger part of him did not care.

“Yes, I would like that, I have no objections to such a course of action.” he was glad that he was trained to hide his emotions from others, or else Bella would have seen on his face how unsure he was.

“Yes, well we are husband and wife so I suppose such a thing is acceptable, besides we both know that there is no real intimacy behind the actions but rather a show of a strong union to others.” 

Fili nodded in response, watching as Bella headed out for breakfast, following after her. She was right, they may be married but they weren’t in love. He had known from the beginning that love would never factor into their relationship, but still, Fili found he was saddened by Bella’s vocal confirmation of them simply being bound by contract and not love.

* * *

That afternoon Bella was walking through the gardens with Ori while Fili and Kili lounged in the sun. Bella looked over and shook her head. The brothers had started out sparring with each other but had given up quickly in favour of relaxing and snacking on some of the biscuits Bella had rescued from the kitchens with Nori.

“Belladonna, what about this flower?” Ori called to her, pointing towards a patch of small purple flowers. Ori had been asking her about the different flowers and their meanings for the past week, sketching and writing them down for future reference.

Bella waited for him to finish his sketch now before speaking “Iris. Often they are within the purple to blue colour range although sometimes you can find white ones. And the iris flower has many meanings so they are often given as part of a bouquet so that the recipient can infer their meaning based on what the rest of the flowers say.” Bella picked one of the flowers as she spoke “the meanings it can have are hope, faith, wisdom and valour often hobbits will put a single iris flower in a courting or engagement bouquet as it will convey all those meaning to the other. The big meaning for us hobbits though is valued friendship, it is often given to someone whose friendship has come to be important to you and you wish to let them know. We call them an iris bouquet because it is the central element to the bundles of flowers. Generally it is grouped with other flowers which can mean various forms of friendship as well as one or two blooms that mean family. Sometimes a single iris is given instead but that is considered quite an unusual thing to do. An iris bouquet or a single iris bloom is seen as a formal way of saying the recipient is considered an informal part of the giver’s family.”

As Bella explained to Ori she glanced from the flower to Fili. As unusual as it was to give someone a single iris, it felt right to give the blossom to Fili.

The brothers looked up as Bella stepped in front of them and she smiled at the identical looks of confusion on their faces.

“Here, Fili, I was talking to Ori and this flower reminded me of you so I wanted to give it to you.” and here she held out the flower, watching as Fili slowly took it from her hand, still looking confused.

“Thank you, Belladonna.”

With a small nod Bella turned back to her friend and started to explain the meanings behind the different tulips he was standing in front of.

As the sun started to set Bella and Ori turned to leave the garden, and found that Fili and Kili had already left. Ori was walking with his head in his book, finalising one of his sketches and so he did not notice the single flower lying on the grass. 

But Bella did, the iris she had given to Fili was lying discarded on the ground, looking slightly squashed, as though it had been stepped on. She found tears gathering in her eyes though she could not understand why, yes she was upset that Fili had discarded the flower but not enough that she felt warranted tears. With a shake of her head and a few deep breaths Bella fell back into step with Ori, heading towards the dining room for dinner, after which she could escape by herself and try to figure out why Fili’s actions had hurt her so much.

* * *

She had forgotten that she had agreed to attend the reading of the moon runes. With Fili. Thorin, Gandalf and Elrond were also there, but Bella was mainly focused on Fili. He was currently looking at her in concern, she had been avoiding speaking with him during dinner and had walked next to Thorin on the way to this place. And judging by the looks she had gotten from the rest of their small group, both Elrond and Gandalf could see there was something bothering her, which meant that Fili had surely noticed.

“Ah, here we go, the moon runes read... Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's day will shine upon the keyhole.” Lord Elrond spoke up from his dias, the light from the moon streaming down upon it.

“Durin’s day?” Bella questioned, looking at Fili, though it was Gandalf who answered 

“The start of the dwarven new year, the last sun of Autumn and the first moon of winter appear together in the sky.”

Thorin was not appeased by the words “This is not good news, summer is passing by us and soon autumn will come.”

“And Durin’s day with it.” Fili continued. “It is not all lost, we still have time uncle.”

“Time for what?” Bella asked, glancing between the people standing around her, as such she could see the look Elrond was giving Gandalf and she knew that he was not happy.

“To find the entrance.” Thorin answered “as long as we can stand in the right spot at the right time, we will be able to open the door.”

Once again Bella was watching Elrond, and saw the moment he realised what was happening “This is your purpose then, to enter the mountain?”

Immediately Thorin and Fili both stood taller and took on defensive stances, Thorin gave the elf a distrustful look “What is it to you?”

“There are some who would not deem it wise.”

* * *

When they stepped back into the hall their rooms surrounded Fili could see the rest of the company enjoying themselves around a fire that appeared to be made of broken furniture. Nori had a stack of items that Fili was sure belonged to their hosts but he was not going to acknowledge it.

Bombur was sitting atop a table that was groaning under his weight, and as he watched Bofur threw a sausage at him with a shout of “catch.” He did, and it seemed that was enough for the table to give in and break, crashing to the floor with Bombur on top. Fili joined in the laughter, and laughed harder as he saw his brother and Gloin choking on their wine as Oin shouted at them to breathe. Fili turned to where Bella was standing at his side to point out the display to her, only to find she wasn’t there. A quick scan around told him that she wasn’t in the shared hall, which meant she was in their room.

With a quick nod and wave to his brother, and a pat on his uncle’s back, Fili headed into his and Bella’s room. Something had been bothering ever since dinner and while at first Fili had been willing to wait it out he was now worried that there was something quite seriously wrong. His wife would not be able to avoid it any longer now, they needed to talk.

Bella was sitting at the mirror, twirling her braid through her fingers, when he entered. She looked around when he shut the door before standing up and heading toward the washroom, not sparing him a single look.

“Bella, we need to talk.”

Bella sighed, she had known that Fili would notice her mood and would wish to talk to her about it, she had hoped however that he would have been distracted by their companions outside and she would have had time to prepare and pretend to be asleep when he finally entered.

She gestured for Fili to continue, not willing to make it easy for him.

“Bell you’ve seemed a bit annoyed at something ever since dinner, has something happened, did someone say something to you? I can’t help until you tell me.”

He was being nice, and Bella felt bad for making him worry but she also felt he deserved it after she had put herself out there and he had rejected it.

“It seems that your detective skills need some work, master Fili, for while I am upset it is not something anyone else has done.”

“Master Fili? You haven’t been so formal with me since that first night in Bag End, Bella would you please tell me what has happened, if no one has upset you then please allow me to offer you some comfort and help in getting over whatever it is that is causing you distress.”

“It seems that I must be formal with you once more master Fili, and I must insist that you resume to call me Belladonna, I have allowed for the lack of formality for too long. I also suggest that you do not share my bed with me tonight or any night for the foreseeable future, mayhaps your brother and uncle have some room for you.”

Fili watched as Bella turned around and started to unwind the long braid he had put into her hair earlier. “Bell. Belladonna, please see that I only wish to understand and help you, why are you being so unreasonable?”

It had been the wrong thing to say. In the mirror he could see her face darken with anger and she turned to face him now 

“UNREASONABLE!”

Fili flinched at her shout, and with a quick glance at the door that led to the common room he turned to try and calm her down before everyone else heard. But before he could open his mouth Bella continued to shout.

“I AM BEING PERFECTLY REASONABLE RIGHT NOW MASTER FILI AND I BELIEVE THAT I HAVE ASKED YOU TO VACATE MY ROOM. OR IS IT ACCEPTABLE FOR A DWARF TO FORCE HIS PRESENCE UPON A LADY WHO DOES NOT WISH IT?”

And now, Fili found he had had quite enough, his wife was unreasonably upset and had now accused him of forcing his presence on her which was an insult to his reputation and respectability.  “YOU ARE BEING UNREASONABLE AND YOU KNOW IT! SOMETHING HAS HAPPENED TO UPSET YOU BETWEEN THIS AFTERNOON AND DINNER AND I HAVE ONLY BEEN TRYING TO HELP YOU. NOW YOU KICK ME OUT OF OUR ROOM AND EXPECT ME TO ACCEPT IT? BUT I SUPPOSE THAT IT IS PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE FOR A HOBBIT LASS TO BEHAVE IN SUCH A WAY.”

“OUT! GET OUT! NOW MASTER DWARF!”

Bella’s last shout was punctuated by her picking up his pack from where it was on the bed and flinging it right at him. He had a second to marvel at the strength and accuracy of the throw before he had to duck out of the way, and the bag thumped against the door.

Without waiting to see if Bella would throw anything else at him, Fili picked up his belongings and exited the room, slamming the door behind him.

A quick glance told him that the rest of the company had heard the shouting match that had just occurred and after seeking out his brother and uncle in the crowd and receiving nods from both of them, Fili made his way into their room and claimed the bed that did not have either of their belongings on top.

Fili prepared for bed quickly, he had no wish to go back out and spend time with his friends and have to deal with their sympathetic and questioning gazes. He was just pulling back the sheets when his brother and uncle bothe entered the room, calling out their ‘goodnights’ to the rest of the company. Thorin also shouted a reminder that they had to all be up early to leave and ordered Ori to ensure Bella...donna was aware.

Kili bypassed his own bed and Fili held up a hand to stop the questions he knew he would be asked by his family. 

“No, Kee, I have no idea what has happened that could cause her to be so angry with me. And yes, uncle, I did try to talk it out with her before she became so unreasonably angry. I do not wish to speak of it, at least not tonight, let us all have a good night's rest before we leave in the morning”

Not waiting for his brother or uncle to respond Fili slid into bed and closed his eyes, resolutely ignoring the space beside him where he had grown used to Bella lying.

Bella gave Ori a soft smile as she closed the door behind him, wishing him a goodnight. She had been able to read on the scribes face his curiosity about what had happened but she was not willing to speak about it with him. Ori may be her friend, but he was also Fili’s friend, and if Bella told him what had angered her then Ori would simply go tell his prince and Bella did not want that to happen. 

With a sigh Bella quickly got herself ready for bed and as she lay under the covers trying to fall asleep all she could think about was how empty the bed seemed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Bella and Fili had a fight! they are both still relatively strangers to one another and they are from different races and have different traditions so in my mind they would definitely have arguments over things they simply don't understand. Plus I think no matter how much you may love someone you will always argue, what matters is that you move on and make up and while they don't yet love each other they are growing closer.
> 
> Anyway let me know your thoughts on the argument, I think I wrote it a bit biased towards Bella's side but honestly both of them are in the wrong in one way or another but I would love to know your thoughts because the other company members will all have opinions and Bella and Fili will end up talking about what happened so if I can get your opinions then I might not need to come up with one for every dwarf.
> 
> Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a while to get out and felt a bit rushed at the end, but no matter how I tried to fix it it just kept sounding weird.  
> Anyway, hope you all enjoy and thanks for all the comment's and Kudo's!
> 
> Stay safe and healthy!

The next morning was not fun for either Bella or Fili. Both had not slept much the night before, both too aware of how empty their beds were without the other.

Bella found herself furiously trying to brush out the massive knot that had been the result of her constant tossing and turning while trying to fall asleep. A part of her was ready to give in and go find Fili and apologise and ask him to fix her hair for her, that same part of her had also missed his soft snoring during the night. However, Bella also knew that she was not the one who should be apologising, at least not until Fili apologised to her first. He was the one who had rejected her formal offer of familial consideration. True they were married and already a formal part of each other's family through their union, however Bella had hoped that he would accept the informal but more personal invitation. And he had let her think he did, he had accepted her offer only to then cruelly discard it on the ground, a cruel rejection she would not even wish upon Lobelia Sackville-Baggins.

Bella was pulled out of her anger by the sound of her brush snapping in half. She had been pulling it too aggressively through her hair and now she had broken it. The brush was not as sturdy as the one she had used at home, this was a simple brush made out of a light wood and was half the size of a normal brush. Her mother had used it when she traveled as it took up less room and did not weigh as much as a regular brush would.

A few angry tears leaked out before Bella washed her face and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She did not leave her two braids loose as she normally would but instead pulled them back in such a manner that they were half covered by the rest of her hair.

Bella gathered up her pack and her sword, giving the room a quick glance to ensure that nothing was left behind before stepping out and moving to where the others all stood in the main hall. A quick glance told her that both Fili and Kili were not yet there and she was grateful that she would not have to worry about any tension between them.

* * *

Fili woke up slowly, he had not slept much as he had found himself unable to drift off without Bella’s… Belladonna’s… soft breaths and her presence next to him.  He grumbled to himself as he got ready, he had missed her last night but he would not admit it to anyone but himself, and Bella..donna if she ever apologised and they could return to the comfortable relationship - friendship - that had been growing between them.  He was interrupted from his angry muttering by Kili’s hand waving in front of his face, he looked at his brother in annoyance, only to be met with his concerned gaze.

“Fili are you ok? I’ve been trying to talk to you for the past ten minutes and you haven’t even noticed. Plus you look like shit. Didn’t you get enough sleep last night? You went to bed before I did.”

“Thanks Kee.” Fili rolled his eyes, picking up his pack “Where’s uncle?”

“With the others in the hall.”

Fili followed his brother out with one last look around to make sure they hadn’t left anything in the room.  Fili spotted Bella the moment he stepped into the hall, she had bags under her eyes and her hair was pulled into a messy ponytail. She still looked pretty though.  
Something was different though, but he couldn’t figure out what, then she moved her head and he realised. His braids, they weren’t gone he could still see the beads dangling in her ponytail, but they were hidden under layers of her hair. If you didn’t know where to look or you weren’t standing next to her then you wouldn’t know she had any braids to begin with.

He heard Kili’s intake of breath. No one ever covered such important braids and to do so was considered the highest insult to the one who gave them to you. He knew she had been angry but he had thought that they would see each other this morning and she would apologise and things would go back to normal.  
They set out after his uncle informed them that Gandalf would catch up with them once they passed the misty mountains. Fili watched as Bella..donna turned to look at him and tried to give her a smile, instead she faced away and stepped into line with Dori. Before he could pull Kili with him to follow behind his wife Ori grabbed Nori’s arm and with a glare at Fili blocked his path.

“Wow, never thought I would see day Ori glared at someone, are you sure you didn’t do anything?” Kili teased as they fell into the back of the group.

“I'm sure Kili, I don't know what she’s upset about.”

It took them two days to reach the foot of the misty mountains, and for those two days Bella had not spoken to Fili. He was getting confused now. He had been so sure that he hadn’t done anything to upset her, but if she had been in the wrong surely she would have apologised by now.  
He had not slept well the previous night again. He had hoped having laid his bed roll next to Kilis would have helped, but it made no difference. And he could see on Bella… Belladonna’s face that she hadn’t been sleeping well either, which made him question even more whether he had been wrong. He had learnt enough about Belladonna to know that she hated not getting enough sleep so surely she would have apologised.

As they set up camp at the bottom on the mountains Ori walked over and handed him his journal.

“What’s this for?”

Ori sighed. “Look, I Belladonna is my friend and she has barely slept the last few nights. I don't know what happened for her to be angry with you and as much as I think you need to figure it out yourself you might find something to help you out in the journal.” Ori turned to walk away before hesitating and facing Fili again “sorry… your… sorry but please don’t hurt her.”

It was a new experience, Ori speaking to him - to anyone - like that, and Fili felt a surge of fondness for his friend. He finished setting up his bedding and settled down, flipping through Ori’s journal and looking for any clues there might be regarding Belladonna’s behaviour.

* * *

Bella and Gloin had both been assigned to gather firewood. She hadn’t spoken much to him over the course of their journey, the red-haired dwarf often in the company of his brother and Dwalin and by extension Thorin. So she was shocked when Gloin spoke up.

“You know, lass, I’ve a wife back home, absolutely beautiful, most beautiful dame you would ever behold. And we had a son as well, oh little Gimli, he wanted to come you know help win our home back, but his mother wouldn’t allow it, what with him being underage and all.”

“Oh, that’s lovely Gloin, I do look forward to meeting your family. Bombur was telling me about his young children too and he was telling me all about how his eldest wanted to come as well. I look forward to meeting all the company's families really, although Ori tells me there isn’t many more member’s not on this quest. Still I hope I will be able to help with the children, maybe start a school to teach them all.”

“Do you like children lass?” Gloin looked slightly put off and slightly impressed that she had dared to interrupt his monologue about his family, no one else seemed to have the balls to do it - not even Thorin.

“Oh I love children. I have so many young cousins, and there are children everywhere in the shire, and my aunts and uncles always would ask me to babysit you know. I’ve always dreamed of having my own children one day.” she said wistfully. She knew from Fili that dwarves rarely had children and it was becoming even rarer for a dwarf to have more than one offspring. Bombur had told her he was quite an anomaly with five children. Bella hoped that she and Fili would one day have a child, although it seemed such a thing would be unlikely.

“Is that why you argued with the lad? Over children?” Gloin asked.

“No.” Bella sighed “it was silly, really, but I was upset and he didn’t even know what he had done. I should have calmed down and spoken rationally to him but…”

“But nothing lass. Believe me I’ve learnt a lot from my marriage and my wife only ever loses her temper for a good reason. But whatever it is that you are angry about, maybe it is something that he does not realise is important. You are, after all, a hobbit and he is a dwarf.”  
Bella smiled and thanked Gloin as they made their way back, despite his gruff and warrior-like appearance he was quite clever and rational. She supposed that came with being a parent as Bombur was quite similar, and both her parents had been the same.

Back at the campsite Bella looked around for Fili, they would likely not have a chance of privacy while passing through the mountains and she did not fancy waiting to reach the other side before speaking with him.  He was on guard duty with Kili, Bombur informed after calling her over to help with dinner, further back the way they had come to keep an eye out to see if they were being followed. It would have to wait then.   
By the time the brothers were relieved by Dwalin and Bifur though she was already half asleep, her exhaustion from the previous two nights having caught up and so rather than going to speak to Fili she simply burrowed into her sleeping roll and nodded off.

They were all woken at the crack of dawn with orders from Thorin to begin packing up camp while she and Bombur cooked everyone a warm breakfast. It would be the last hot meal they would have until they were safely on the other side of the mountains and their last chance of a fire as well. Bella decided to smoke the last of their uncooked meat from last night's dinner, giving them something other than the plain rations they had ‘borrowed’ from the elves to munch on over the next few days.  
As much as she wished to speak with her husband Bell found herself caught up in the chaos of their preparations that she had no chance to talk to Fili before the company set off into the mountains. 

* * *

The storm was brutal. Rain lashed at their faces and thunder boomed overhead. Bella found herself struggling as her feet slipped over the stones. Suddenly the mountain to the side shifted and Bella could hear Bofur’s exclamations about stone giants but she refused to look away from her feet. 

The rock beneath her moved and she could hear Fili’s startled cry from further up the line, as she glanced up she could see half the company pass by her, evidently they had been climbing along one of the stone giants. Watching their faces she could tell both that Fili was a part of that group and she breathed a sigh of relief as she watched her husband and friends make it safely onto a ledge. That relief disappeared as suddenly the rock beneath her moved again and she felt Dwalin’s arm holding her back against the stone.

Someone shouted “Jump!” as they rushed towards another ledge and Bella took a deep breath before leaping. She was short, she wouldn’t make it. With desperation she threw her arms out and managed to catch the edge scrambling for a foothold so she could pull herself up.

“Where’s Bella?” 

She wanted to respond to Fili, let him know she was right there, but her voice failed. Hands appeared above her followed by Fili and Bofur’s faces, desperately trying to reach her.  She reached up, her fingers brushed against Fili’s, almost there, he would keep her safe.  She slipped. Her mouth opened in a soundless yell as she felt herself go weightless for a moment before Fili threw himself further to catch her arm.

Fili felt his hand close around Bella’s wrist as Bofur jumped on his legs to keep him from slipping. Relief didn’t come though, the rocks were wet, Bella’s hand was slippery and he was shaking too much to pull her up. He needed to hold on. He needed to apologise. 

She was slipping.

“No! Bella, hold on, please! Hold on to me. I’m sorry, I know why you were upset and I am so sorry I didn’t realise sooner.” Fili screamed above the sounds of the storm and the battle around them. He saw movement from the corner of his eye and watched as his uncle jumped down to help push Bella up. The moment she was on somewhat solid ground he pulled her into his arms.

“I almost lost you.”

“Thorin!”

Fili looked up to see Dwalin pulling Thorin up from the ledge and felt a moment of guilt for forgetting his uncle was down there. “Thanks uncle, for saving Bell.”

“Aye, we almost lost our burglar there.” Bofur spoke up as he checked over his brother and cousin.

Thorin scowled at Bella “she’s been lost ever since she left home, I should never have allowed for her to come, she doesn’t belong here.”

Fili could feel Bella shrink against him and had to refrain from telling his uncle off, instead he directed their attention to more important matters.

“We need to find shelter, we’ll die if we keep going.” 

* * *

Fili awoke to his uncle’s shouts. He had enough time to see Bella by the cave entrance before the ground disappeared from beneath him. They fell in a heap and barely managed to untangle before they were set upon by goblins. 

In the chaos Fili lost sight of Bella and as he was prodded along by the goblins all he could hope was that she was unharmed.

* * *

Bella woke suddenly with a pain in the back of her head. She had fallen amongst some mushrooms and her sword was just out of reach. She shifted in a hope to reach it but stopped as she heard a noise and strained her ears to listen. It was silent before she heard the screech of the goblin that had fallen with her followed by a loud thump. The light from her sword dimmed until the blade no longer glowed blue and the sound of something being dragged along the ground could be heard.

Bella waited another breath before she sat up and grabbed her weapon, looking around for whatever it was that killed the goblin. To the side she spotted her pack and further inspection revealed several more around it, though she could not recognise any of them except for Fili’s.

Digging through her pack Bella removed anything she did not need to keep. Clothes wise she kept a shirt and one travel skirt. She had a shirt and her trousers on now and she wrapped another skirt around her waist, she was feeling a slight chill and she hoped to ward it off. Nearly everything else was removed, leaving her with her change of clothes, her blanket and sleep roll and some dried fruit and meat. Bella dug through Fili’s bag next, pulling his spare tunic over her shirt and moving some of his food and his blanket across to her bag as well as his brush and his bead kit. One of the other bags, likely Ori’s judging by its small size and the wool she found inside, was small enough that she could manage to strap it in front of her while she carried her pack on her back. She emptied it and moved a spare tunic and trousers from the other three bags nearby as well as any blankets they held. It would be light enough that she wouldn’t be hindered by it and would not contain any valuables should she need to ditch it. The rest of the bags all had hair brushes and bead kits which she knew were important and they went in her pack, along with several pipes and the pipeweed she was sure Bofur had stolen from her home.

With one last look through the packs at her feet Bella filled her pack up with anything that looked important. What appeared to be two picture frames closed like a locket, Ori’s journal and writing implements and some medicinal herbs that undoubtedly belonged to Oin.

With her pack full and Ori’s pack strapped to her front, Bella continued forward, away from where she had fallen and towards the faint noises of water. ‘When you are lost, find water’ her mum used to say.

She felt something under her foot and bent down to pick it up, it was a simple gold ring and so she slipped it into her pocket to look at once she had found her way out.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I keep thinking I'm gonna be posting a lot more often since I have nothing to do and yet I always mange to get sidetracked re-watching TV shows and movies for the 100th time.
> 
> Anyway, thanks for the love everyone!
> 
> Stay safe and healthy!

It didn’t take long for Bella to reach the edge of the underground river, she could see the dead goblin and the evidence of someone, or something, making camp nearby as well.  There was no evidence of them now, and they had been able to kill a goblin so Bella did not like the idea of encountering them. She could see a path just behind some rocks so she started towards it only to be stopped by a voice echoing around her.

“What is it precious? It makes a meaty mouthful.” and suddenly a disgusting creature appeared before her, thin and bony, eyes too big to belong to any race, hands and feet stretched, and clothed only in a loincloth.

Bella held her sword in front of her. It was dangerous, whatever this was.

“What is it? What is it doing precious? Gollum Gollum.”  The creature heaved, reminding Bella of the cat Lobelia had when they were children, and Bella took several steps towards the opening.

“I am Bella Baggins of the shire, and I am looking for a way out.” Maybe she could persuade it to show her the way out. Or maybe not.

“Is it lost? Is it… tasty?” The voice changed, getting deeper and raspier, Causing Bella to shiver at the sound.

“Look, I’m not trying to play games here…”

“Games! Does it like to play games? We likes riddle’s precious, does it?” The lighter voice was back and Bella decided that this was the better personality to deal with.

“Oh yes, I especially love games of riddles. Let’s make a deal. We play a game of riddle’s and if I win you show me the way out.” Bella gambled, hoping that it would entice the creature.

“Show it the safe paths through there? Gollum, Gollum” the creature, Gollum Bella decided, pointed several meters to the side of the opening she had been heading towards. Now that it had been pointed out Bella could just make out another opening in the rocks and mentally thanked Gollum for pointing it out. “But if we wins precious… we eats it whole.”

That other personality had come back and Bella nodded “agreed” she breathed out hoping to ward off the more evil personality.

The two engaged in a battle of riddles, all the while Bella did her best to surreptitiously move closer to the opening Gollum had pointed out. 

Eventually Bella ran out of any riddles that may be able to stump Gollum, a quick glance told her she was close to her path should she need to run.

“Go on, ask us a question.”

“...What have I got in my pocket?’ Bella asked haltingly, cringing at the angry yell that Gollum let out. “You said to ask you a question, and so I did, but you may have three guesses.”

“It's a knife?” Bella shook her head “handses?” she held up her hands, almost there “String? Or nothing?”

“Wrong on all guesses, even that extra one. Well I guess I win the game, perhaps you should show me the way out now.”

She knew she was screwed the moment Gollum’s face dropped into a frown. As he leapt at her Bella swung her sword, she had managed to hit Gollum’s side and he curled up for a moment in pain. Fili had told her to always press her advantage and so she stepped forward and brought the pommel of her sword down on his head. Hard. She did not wish to kill a creature that had fallen victim to its own madness but she could not risk it following her.

As Gollum fell unconscious Bella scrambled towards the opening. She didn’t know how long it would take her to get out or how long until Gollum woke up so she moved as fast as she could, keeping her sword in front of her.

* * *

After what felt like hours Bella finally came upon the exit, only to step back when the sound of footsteps came from further down the tunnel. Bella slipped her hand into her pocket, caressing the ring she had found. Almost by accident, she slipped it onto her finger as she watched to see who was coming. She sighed in relief to see the rest of the company run by, led by Gandalf and she almost stepped out to join them when she noticed the pack of goblins following behind them. The goblins stopped at the edge of the tunnel, avoiding the light, and waited until they were given a command to pull back. As soon as there was a clear path Bella took off, racing after her friends.

She almost froze at that thought. They really had become her friends hadn’t they, she hadn’t felt like she had any friends outside of her family for a long time - except maybe the Gamgees - and Bella found herself smiling at the notion.

* * *

They drew to a stop in a grove of trees and instantly Gandalf started to count them all while they tried to catch their breath. Fili looked around, they were all there, all thirteen of them. Wait. thirteen? Where was…

“...Belladonna, who saw our burglar last?”

“I saw her when they first surrounded us but I think she slipped away.” Nori said, looking towards the mountains in thought.

“I saw her with Dori, he should know where she is.” Bombur spoke up, pointing towards the dwarf in question. As Dori spluttered his defence out Fili sank to the ground and held his head in his hands.

“I’ll tell you what happened” Thorin growled. “Miss Baggins has thought of nothing but her home ever since she left it,now she has taken the chance to leave us and return to the comfort she is used to. We will not see her again.”

Fili stood up, but Kili’s hands stopped him from tackling his uncle. Instead he opened his mouth to shout, only to be interrupted by a soft voice.

“Here I am, sorry if I caused you worry, but I fell you see, and had to find my way out.” It was Bella. His Beautiful Bell, alive and mostly unharmed. She had both her pack and Ori’s strapped to her and her little sword was drawn and for a moment Fili could see why Gandalf had chosen her.

“How did you make it out alive?” several voices rose up before Gandalf insisted that it did not matter.

“It matters, because I want to know why she came back.” Thorin told the wizard before turning to Bella for answers. As Bella answered Fili moved over to her and took both the packs off her. He shouldered her pack and handed the other to Kili, they could carry it until they managed to find somewhere safer to rest.

“I know you doubt me. And you are right, I miss my smial, with all my memories. But it hasn’t felt like home for a long time, and you don’t have your home but you have a chance to find it again, that is why I agreed to help you, and why I agreed to the contract. It’s why I came back, because I only felt like my home was gone and it devastated me, you lost yours and I will do my best to help you get it back.”

* * *

Dis had been right, Thorin had no brain at all. Fili shouted at his uncle to stop but Thorin just kept charging at the orc, ignoring the rest of the wrg riding bastards that were with Azog. Kili cried out as their uncle was knocked to the side and Fili grabbed his baby brother - because sometimes Kili was still that toothless kid who followed him around - and turned him away as Azog lifted his sword. Kili did not need to see their uncle die.

The death did not come. Instead Bella had pulled herself up and flung herself in front of Thorin. The rest of the company gathered themselves and charged to join their hobbit as she held back Azog. Before Fili could reach his wife and make sure she was ok, he felt himself get picked up and then dropped. He landed behind Kili, on top of a giant eagle, and as he glanced around he could see the others astride several eagles as well, and one of them was carrying Thorin in its claws.

Bella looked half dead on top of her eagle and Fili felt fear taking a hold of him, was she injured while protecting Thorin? Had she been injured in the goblin caves - she had fallen after all - and now she was suffering as adrenaline wore off? Would they be too late to save Thorin or Bella? He loved them both, he couldn’t imagine how he would go on without either one of them.

Did he love Bella? He considered her a close friend, that was true, and especially during their stay in Rivendell they had grown closer, at least he thought they had. Fili brought his hand to rest over the hidden pocket above his left breast, the seed that he had chosen to give to Bella was there, safe from harm's way. They had planted a seed each back at Bag End and Bella had remarked that she could not wait to return and see how they grew, Fili himself was curious to see as well and found himself looking forward to planting their second pair of seeds once they reached Erebor.

“It’s been five weeks now, since we left the shire.” Fili stated softly, looking once again over to where Bella was lying on top of her eagle.

“Yes, I suppose it has been Fee. It seems like an age ago though.” Kili responded and Fili nodded in agreement. He had only met Bella just under 40 days ago, he couldn’t love her, could he? He cared for her, and he had missed her company while they had not been speaking and the thought of losing her scared him almost as much as the thought of losing Kili did.

He supposed it could be love, of some kind, and maybe one day it would grow into love of another kind.

Fili was startled out of his thoughts of his future by his brother grabbing onto him as the eagles started to pitch down. They were let off on top of a cliff and immediately Fili moved to check on Bella.

“I’m fine, Fili, just exhausted. Go check on your uncle, I know you’re worried about him.” Bella accepted Fili’s hug before he turned to his uncle. Kili was next to him as Gandalf looked him over and Fili found himself holding onto his brother’s arm as they waited. They both let out sighs of relief as their uncle opened his eyes and Fili turned around to see Bella watching him, he gave her a small nod and watched as her concern melted into relief before she nodded back.

Fili smiled at his wife, she really was a great friend. Thorin had not been kind the last time they spoke and had been quite dismissive at times towards Bella, yet she had rushed to defend him, stood before vicious orcs and wargs with nothing more than a letter opener.  He was distracted from further though by his uncle speaking.

“The girl?”

Fili turned to see his uncle shrug off Dwalin and Kili, who had clearly helped him stand, and look questioningly at Gandalf.

* * *

Bella had never been more relieved in her life than when Fili nodded to let her know Thorin was alright.  
Correction, she hadn’t been more relieved than now, as Thorin admitted his assumptions had been wrong, and hugged her. Hugged. She hadn’t even seen him hug Fili or Kili, and yet here he was hugging her.

“Will you forgive me for my foolish behaviour Belladonna?” Thorin stepped back and looked imploringly at her, behind him Bella could see the rest of the company watching them.

“There is nothing for me to forgive, we are family after all. Besides, I think my journey so far has taught me much about who I am and for that I should be thanking you.”

“No, thank  _ you  _ Belladonna.”

“I think it is time that you all called me Bella. No need for formality anymore.” Bella smiled, locking eyes with Fili from where he was standing behind Thorin.

* * *

They could not rest long. Thanks to the eagle’s the orcs would have to travel two days before reaching their landing place and neither Thorin or Gandalf wanted to make it easy for their hunters to catch up. 

The glimpse they had gotten of Erebor had re-energised the company and so they worked their way down the ‘carrock’ - as Gandalf called it. Bella found herself walking at the back of the line with Fili and Kili, the two brothers were helping her navigate several of the larger steps that they came upon. They both still carried the packs she had escaped with, for which Bella was thankful. At least when they rested they would have some dried fruit and meat to snack on as well as Oin's herbs should anyone need some attention.

As Fili helped her down yet another step Bella glanced towards the sky, the sun had been rising while they were atop the carrock. Now it was nearing the midday position and the shade the cliff face had been giving them was gone.

"We need to stop for a moment." Bella pulled out of Fili's arms and leant against the rock, taking a few deep breaths. None of them had slept properly in over 24 hours and hadn't eaten since dinner last night. She could see the exhaustion on her companions faces, the fear and lack of sleep catching up to them.

"We will, we just need to get to the bottom of this cliff. Uncle is probably hoping we can find a stream we can wash off in." Kili said, moving down the next step, waiting to help Bella down.

With a sigh Bella motioned for Fili to hand her the pack he was carrying, once he did Bella stood straight and pulled his tunic off, leaving her shirt on underneath. Once the tunic was folded and stored in her bag she removed the skirt she had put on over her trousers. Without the extra layer of clothing Bella already found she felt cooler and with a deep breath she shouldered the pack and stepped forward, hands on Kili's shoulders as he lifted her down a particularly big step.

"Was that my tunic?" Fili spoke up behind her before trying to grab her pack off her.

"Leave it, you and Kili are helping me down, I can at least carry the pack." Bella swatted her husband's hands away "yes it was your tunic. When I fell I found a few packs nearby so I sorted through and put anything important in my pack. It was quite chilly under there so I pulled your spare tunic over my shirt for warmth." 

Fili smiled at his wife. Bella had used his tunic for warmth. And yes, he was aware that it was for a practical purpose but still, he was glad that she had something of his to help her.  "Alright you can carry the pack for now, but if it starts getting heavy let me know."

He let out a laugh as Bella rolled her eyes before huffing an agreement, he had missed this, the easy communication between them.  He needed to apologise properly, once they stopped. Bella deserved it, considering how idiotic he had been.

For another hour the company made their way down the cliff. The group of three was eventually joined by Ori when he finally managed to escape Dori's smothering, and together they passed time sharing stories of their childhood. It was as Fili was staring at Bella as she animatedly told them about the time she stole some pie's from a farmer Maggot's windowsill that Thorin finally called for the group to halt.  With a start Fili realised that they had been walking along flat ground for a while, looking behind he could barely see the bottom of the rocky steps.

Despite his best attempts, Fili couldn’t stop the relieved groan he let out as he lowered himself to the ground. All around him the others were in similar conditions, only Thorin and Gandalf remained standing, gazing at the landscape around them.

Bella was struggling with her pack from where she was seated between him and Kili. Before Fili could offer to give Bella a hand she let out a triumphant sound and pulled out several muslin sacks that they used to carry their dried food. The happy laugh the two brothers let out drew the attention of the rest of the company and soon they were all professing their gratitude for the hobbit lass.

“That’s my sister!” Kili exclaimed as they rationed out the food “always thinking ahead, just what our family needs, hey Fili?”

“Definitely, amad will be happy to have someone else with common sense in the family.” Fili replied, grinning at his brother and his uncle, both of whom laughed as they remembered all the time Dis had bemoaned their lack of common sense.

* * *

They had rested for an hour before moving again. Gandalf told them he knew of a place they could stay but they would need to stop overnight. Bella swallowed her protests as she stood and stretched, her muscles ached and it had been way too long since a proper meal or a good sleep. The wizard assured them there was a pretty secluded clearing with a pond of fresh water that they could reach before dark, as long as they kept a steady pace and the promise of water and some protection through the night was an opportunity none of them wanted to miss.

As she turned to collect her pack, Bella was startled to see that once again Fili had shouldered it, offering her a small smile and shaking his head before she could protest. Kili had yet to pick up the smaller pack so Bella scooped it up with a defiant look at the two brothers. Fili let out a sigh and Kili laughed, giving her a clap on the shoulder before walking forward with the company.

“Listen, Bell, I really am sorry about Rivendell and not understanding why you were upset.” Fili looked nervous. Bella had never seen him look nervous before, it was kind of endearing.

“It’s fine, you apologised after I slipped, back in the mountains. And honestly I had forgotten all about it by that point, all I cared about was that we survived. Besides, I wasn’t being fair, I shouldn’t have been so irrational and just spoken to you.”

“No, Bell, I knew how important flowers are to you, I know you would never give anyone a flower without reason and yet I discarded it like it was nothing, all to spar with Kili. Mahal, Bella, I’m your husband and I needed Ori to basically tell me what I did wrong.” 

Bella smiled and took Fili’s hand in hers as they walked “stop beating yourself up, I forgive you and I am sorry for letting it escalate. I missed you, you know.”

“I missed you too.” Fili smiled at Bella and he gave her a wink as she smiled back at him, if this was the worst fight they got into as a married couple then they would be fine. “Do you really consider me to be part of your family?”

Bella let out a soft laugh and once again Fili grinned, she was beautiful “yes, I know that technically we already were family I just felt like I should acknowledge that despite this being an arranged marriage I personally consider you my family, everyone here really, but I wanted to make sure  _ you  _ knew. Plus I have faith and hope for our life together Fili, I know we will at least be happy as you are a dear and beloved friend already, and I know you will be a wise and valiant king one day.”

Despite the warmth Fili felt at Bella’s explanation he couldn’t stop the momentary sadness as she called him a friend. A dear and beloved friend, but a friend nonetheless. It didn’t make sense for him to feel that way, he considered her a friend as well and should be relieved that she believed they would be happy. And yet, here he was, saddened to know that he was a beloved friend.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a filler chapter so it's a bit shorter than others. Next chapter will be longer and we will get to meet Beorn and see some nice moments between Bella and Fili.
> 
> Stay safe and Healthy!
> 
> My thoughts and prayers are with everyone who is suffering right now and all those who are standing up for their rights and freedoms and for change.

They reached the clearing as the sun began its descent, Kili and Fili both set out hunting immediately as Dori and Ori headed off to collect firewood.

Bella set about emptying the two packs she had gathered below the goblin town, spreading out the blankets and spare clothes before removing any of the personal items. She kept Fili’s spare clothes and his brush and bead box in her pack with her clothes and called the dwarves over to gather any items that belonged to them. She was relieved to see that each family group had a brush and bead box that had been saved and waved away their thanks, they all would have done the same thing.

The lack of blankets would be a problem and Bella was the only one with a sleep roll but Thorin insisted they would sort it out after they had eaten. The remainder of the dried food Bella had saved stayed in her pack as well. Should Fili and Kili return without anything to cook then it would be rationed out amongst them.

Fili entered the clearing now, without his brother and instantly everyone was reaching for the weapons they had saved from the goblins.

“Calm down everyone, Kili’s fine, still hunting. I just came to grab Bella, we think we found some berries but we aren’t sure if they are edible or not so we figured we could ask the master of gardening.”

Bella followed Fili into the trees, it was peaceful now, with the setting sun casting a warm orange glow through the tree and despite the disappearing light and the approaching autumn it was still a warm night.

“Well, here we are. What do you think?” Fili was standing in front of a bush and Bella shook her head instantly.

“Nightshade. It’s deadly, good thing you guys didn’t touch them before checking, nightshade poisoning is not a pleasant thing to witness.” She laughed as Fili’s eyes widened in alarm and he jumped away from the bush “Don’t worry, it’s only poisonous when ingested.”

Fili smiled as he watched Bella laugh, she looked beautiful and the light from the sun caused her auburn hair to light up like fire and her hazel eyes looked almost gold.

He looked away from his wife as Kili called out, heading over with several dead rabbits in his hand.

“Right, come on, better get back to camp before they all get too hungry.”

They were almost back at the clearing when Bella’s gasp caused Fili to to turn around, ready to draw his swords. He relaxed as he realised that everything was fine and Bella was staring at something on the ground.

“Mushrooms! Oh I can't believe there are mushrooms here, Fili, help me carry these back to camp, Kili go on ahead and tell Bombur that we’re bringing him some mushrooms to add to dinner.” Bella pulled Fili to the ground before showing him exactly how to dig the mushrooms up.

They had a decent pile by the time they started to make their way back to the clearing and Bella looked positively ecstatic. “Do you like mushrooms then? You seemed quite excited to have found them.”

“Oh any hobbit enjoys mushrooms, I’m not really sure why we love them so much but we do. I know there are a lot of wild mushrooms but many are poisonous so I was quite happy to see ones that I recognised from my garden back home… back at Bag End.”

* * *

It was decided that the blankets would have to be shared amongst the families and Fili and Bella would share her sleeping roll as well as one of the thinner blankets. Dwalin decided that the watch would rotate between himself, Thorin, Kili, Oin, Gloin and Balin. Fili tried to protest his exclusion, as did several of the other dwarves but Dwalin cut them off.

“Leave it be, you lot are in groups of three sharing blankets, if one of you wakes up there is a greater chance you will cause the other two to wake as well, best leave it to those of us who are sharing with one other person. And Fili your wife is exhausted. I don’t think we should risk her waking up when you do. Besides, you both haven’t been sleeping well since we left Rivendell.”

Fili had to agree with Dwalin, truthfully he was grateful he didn’t have to wake for watch and he was exhausted. The nights without Bella nearby had not been good, he had grown too used to having her next to him as he slept, and he knew that Bella hadn’t been sleeping either.

With a sigh he helped Bella lay out the roll before removing his coat and laying down with her, pulling the blanket and his coat over the top of them. It was a bit of a tight squeeze and they had to shuffle around a bit before they could comfortably lie next to each other.

“Night Bell.”

“Night Fili.”

* * *

Bella woke up feeling warm. For a moment she looked around confused seeing her companions all asleep around the campfire, nearby Kili was on watch and he turned to face her as she made a small noise.

“Morning sister, you look comfortable.” The cheeky grin on Kili’s face had Bella looking down. At some point in the night she had ended up laying over Fili’s chest, one hand near his head and the other over his heart. Her cheeks flushed as she realised that her husband had both his arms wrapped around her, holding her in place.

Bella looked back up at Kili and scowled at his silent laughter.

“Shut up Kili!” she whispered, trying hard not to wake the dwarf she was currently using as a pillow.

“Leave my Bell alone Kee.”

Looking back down Bella could see Fili had one eye cracked open as he mumbled at his brother to “grow up already.”

Bella smiled softly at Fili, she had missed waking up next to him, the way he always took several minutes to wake up properly.   
“Morning Fili.”

“Morning Bell.”

Bella smiled again and lay back down properly, no one else was awake which meant that they wouldn’t need to get up yet. Bella closed her eyes and drifted back into sleep as the two brothers whispered to each other.

“I still have an hour before the wake up call, Fili, why don’t you take your wife’s example and get some more sleep. You need it.”

“Thanks Kee. I haven’t slept this well since the fight, I guess I had gotten too used to Bella being right there.”

As Bella drifted off completely she felt Fili’s arms tighten around her and she let out a soft breath. They were going to be ok.

* * *

Breakfast was some leftover rabbit from the night before, it was bland but tender, since they had no cooking implements Bombur had simply roasted it over the fire on a makeshift spit. As they packed up camp Bombur and Bella went to work cutting up the rabbit that had been smoked last night, and storing it in the few food sacks along with the rest of the dried fruits. 

It would take them several hours to make it to the house Gandalf knew about so Thorin had them ready as quickly as possible. Before setting off everyone had a drink from the fresh water pond, it would be their last chance to drink until they made it to their next destination.

Once again Fili and Kili gathered up the packs before Bella could and the three of them fell into the back of the group, joined quickly by Ori and Nori as they once again traded stories. It was pleasant, and Bella found herself eagerly asking for more stories about Fili as a child, eager to know more about the man she had married, it was likely that one day their child would be getting into the same messes as its father and the thought made her smile.

“Let’s play a game of riddles! Bella you were telling me that you were quite good at them.”

Fili felt Bella freeze at Ori’s words before she took a deep breath and continued walking.

“No thanks Ori, I did quite enjoy them but not at the moment anymore, not after…”

Fili looked over at his wife concerned, she had slapped her hand over her mouth before she could finish talking, evidently she didn’t want to tell them what the problem was. Still, if she had told Ori she enjoyed them then whatever happened must have been recent, and the only time she had been away from any of them was…

“What happened, when you fell Bella? You don’t need to go into detail but if something happened that's scared you or has you worried, it will help if you talk about it.” Fili grabbed Bella’s hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

“Well, I guess it would help to talk about it now, in the daylight, surrounded by friends and nature.” Bella took a deep breath and Fili smiled encouragingly, she was quite brave, his wife. “I fell with a goblin and I must have hit my head because I blacked out for a moment. When I woke up I could hear something….”

Fili listened as Bella told them how she exchanged riddles with the creature in the dark and pulled her closer to him as they walked. It was awkward trying to walk while also hugging Bella to him but he needed the reassurance that she was ok, and had made it back to him.

* * *

“Now we shall have to reveal ourselves in small numbers, I do fear that too many at once will startle him and that is something we want to avoid.” Gandalf explained. They were currently standing at the entrance to a beautiful garden which belonged to their soon to be host. At least they hoped.

Beside him Fili could feel Bella’s excitement at seeing all the flowers and food that they could see growing around them. He gave her a fond smile and in return she lightly smacked his arm before smiling excitedly at him. 

From his other side Kili gave him a nudge and when he turned to glare at his brother he received a shit-eating grin in return.   
Fili started to listen again as Gandalf started separating them into groups of two’s “and Bella will come with me to start with.”

“Hang on!” Fili exclaimed, he was not having it, after everything the last few days had thrown at them there was no way he was separating from his wife. “I’m sticking with Bell, if things go wrong then I need to be there to protect her.”

“I would feel more comfortable with Fili there Gandalf” Bella added and Fili found something curling in his stomach at the knowledge that Bella felt safe with him.

“Very well, Bella _and_ Fili shall come with me.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while hasn't it?
> 
> So much has happened. Australia really seemed to be on the way to recovery for a while and so the youth group I volunteer at started back up.   
> My work is still closed but my boss called a few of us up that she wanted to make sure stayed on books when we did open up. Since we are on the jobkeeper scheme we go into the offices a couple of times a week and help out the full time staff that are there. On top of all that the public schools have resumed their scripture classes, we had a lot of our volunteers decide they weren't feeling comfortable going into schools so I've not only been teaching my usual class but covering 5 other classes as well through the week.
> 
> So the past couple of months have all of a sudden gotten busy for me and I don't remember how I used to function like that.
> 
> Anyway...
> 
> This is a very short chapter before we get into the action thats coming up but I have already gotten a bunch of the next chapter written and it should be up soon
> 
> Keep safe everyone and enjoy!

Fili gave Bella a slight smile as she stepped closer still. He could see how on edge she was, their previous night of rest had not been enough to remove the exhaustion from his wife completely. After the last few days Fili knew that Bella was quickly running out of steam, he could see how done she was whenever she thought no one was looking. As she stepped even closer Fili pulled Bella to his side and held her hand, giving it a slight squeeze to offer her some slight comfort.

Bella was nervous as they neared the house. Gandalf walked ahead of her and Fili and was reminding them that he would do all the talking to ensure that their potential host received all the relevant information. The further they walked from the rest of the group the closer Bella found herself drawing to Fili. Gandalf was being very mysterious about who they were visiting and so she sought comfort from her husband, she knew he would keep her safe from whoever they were visiting.

Suddenly Gandalf stopped and the sound of a door opening and closing had Bella leaning to the side to catch a glimpse of Gandalf's acquaintance.

She regretted it immediately. Suppressing the urge to squeak in fright Bell took in the giant man in front of them, taller even than Gandalf, and she wondered just what the wizard had been thinking when deciding to come here.

“Who are you?”

Much like his stature the man’s voice was giant. And despite the intimidating figure he cut Gandalf seemed unfazed.  _ Well I suppose I would be unfazed too, if I were a powerful wizard  _ Bella mused as she ducked her head back behind Gandalf, only to have him step to the side to reveal her and Fili.

“We are travellers seeking a place to stay as our group is being hunted by a pack of orcs. We have quite a fascinating tale to tell.” Gandalf said as he gave Bella and Fili a nudge forward. Bella had to once more stop herself from squeaking as the giant turned his eye on her, feeling as though he were sizing her up for a meal.

“Fascinating is it? I suppose I shall hear your tale and then I shall decide if I will help you.” 

* * *

Fili was grateful that the man, Beorn, was willingly listening to Gandalf as he weaved their tale. Even as the others slowly wandered in, Beorn was still happy to listen. What Fili didn't like was the way the man's gaze would keep straying over to Bella.

And Fili could recognise the curious wonder in Beorn's eyes well enough that he found himself pulling his wife closer.

After several hours of Gandalf weaving his tale of their quest Fili felt himself relaxing as Beorn agreed to let them stay for the night before he decided if he would offer any further help.

At a whistle from the giant man a large dog moved forward.

"Follow Wolfe and he will lead you to a place for you to rest. Little Bunny you can follow me and I will show you to your own room." Beorn stood, gesturing for Bella to follow him.

Fili tightened his grip on Bella's hand as she got up to follow. She turned and gave him a soft smile before pulling him up with her.

Grateful that Bella seemed to realise where his hesitation had come from, Fili nodded to his uncle and brother before following his wife and Beorn down the hall.

  
  


The room they were given was just as large as the rest of the house. There was no bed but there was a large mattress on the floor with sheets and woollen blankets laid over it. There was a window on the far wall with a small table underneath it which Fili placed the pack he had been carrying next to. Over in the corner a large privacy screen had been placed and a quick glance behind it showed a small basin of water and a sponge.

“Hey Bell, you should wash yourself off first. I want to go check up on Kili anyway.”

Bella gave Fili a grateful smile before she moved behind the screen. The basin of water wouldn’t do much to wash all the grime off but it would be enough for now, and it would be refreshing after the long walk they’d had. 

After washing off she walked over to where Fili had placed her pack and pulled on the first clothes she came across which was her skirt and Fili’s tunic.

Bella stretched and headed over to the mattress. She really needed to fix her hair but it was so knotted and dirty at this point that she would need to wash it out properly before she tried to brush it out. Instead Bella laid down, exhaustion from the past week catching up with her, and drifted off to sleep.

Fili was ready to punch his brother.

After finding the rest of the company and making sure everyone was alright Fili dragged Kili outside with him so they could talk together like they used to. After fighting for their lives and almost losing Bella and Thorin, Fili wanted to make sure his little brother was okay, and spend some time with him, something they hadn’t been able to do properly since they had started this quest.

Now though, as they headed back inside, Fili was wishing he hadn’t bothered.

“So, you seem awfully attached to Bella, and after what I saw this morning… makes me wonder what you may be hiding” Kili had that stupid grin on his face as he teased Fili. 

“I don’t know what, you’re talking about. She’s a good friend that’s all, and I don’t like the idea of leaving her alone in this house.”

“Sure, Fili.”

Leaving Kili with the rest of the company Fili continued on to his and Bella’s room and opened the door slowly. Glancing towards the mattress he could easily see his wife sleeping, her face peaceful for the first time since their journey began.

Walking closer Fili could see where Bella had attempted to wash the grime off and he could also see the dirt that still clung to her. Leaving Bella to rest he crossed over to the basin behind the screen and washed himself quickly before joining Bella on the bed, they had some time before dinner and having a rest sounded great. It didn’t take long before Bella’s soft breaths beside him lulled Fili to sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well this was quick.   
> But it was pretty much all written when I posted the last chapter so as soon as I finished it I figured I would post it. after such a long wait I think you all deserve it.
> 
> Hope everyone is staying safe!

Fili was woken by someone shaking his shoulder. With a grumble he turned over and reached out to where Bella was sleeping next to him, intent on pulling her closer and falling back asleep.  As his hand collided with the empty sheets he heard Bella’s voice above him.

“Wake up Fili, Oin just came by to tell us that dinner will be ready in 20 minutes.”

Fili opened his eyes and glanced at Bella. She was smiling at him as he slowly woke and stretched his muscles, her auburn hair was a knotted mess and she still had some dirt smudged on her face. Despite all that Fili couldn’t help but think she looked beautiful and he found himself smiling back at her.

“I’m up, I’m up” Fili laughed as he pulled himself out of bed. Seeing Bella’s mess of hair reminded him that he needed to sort out his hair as well and dug through Bella’s pack to pull out his brush. “After I’m finished I’m happy to fix your hair for you Bell, just grab your brush.”

When he received no answer Fili turned to see Bella fiddling with the hem of a very familiar tunic. With a start he realised she was once again wearing his tunic.

“Um, I may have broken my brush back in Rivendell, I was angry and… well you weren’t there for me to hit so the brush got the brunt of the anger. Honestly at this point my hair is such a knot it would probably be a lot easier to cut it off.”

“Cut it! Bell never cut your hair, at least not in the way you’re thinking.” Fili stepped forward quickly, almost expecting his wife to pull out her sword and slice her curls right off. “I’ve told you hair is important to us dwarves, the beads and braids and the act of caring for another's hair. To cut it off is considered wrong. Yes we can maintain hair, and keep it at a manageable length but only a dwarf who has committed treasonous or malicious actions has their hair completely shorn off.”

Bella felt her eyes widen in alarm. Her and Fili were finally over their fight and she goes and upsets him by talking so dismissively about her hair, she had been upset he hadn’t remembered the importance of her culture and here she is forgetting the importance of his.

“I’m so sorry Fili, I really didn’t mean anything by it. I know how important hair is to you, it’s just… I don't know how we’re going to manage to untangle my hair at this point.”

“Grab the basin of water and bring it over here, and if there is any soap around bring that too. Have a seat and let me worry about untangling your hair. Believe me, I’ve seen Kili’s hair look worse than this after he decided that playing in a mud puddle would be a smart idea. If I could save his hair then I can save yours too.”

Bella let out a soft sigh of relief as she moved to grab the basin of water. She had a quick dig around in her pack to see if she had managed to save any soap when she had been under the goblin tunnels. Thankfully the small jar of rose scented oil she had taken from Rivendell was buried at the very bottom of the pack.

There was something calming about having Fili work his brush through her hair. Despite the numerous knots, not once did the brush snag or pull at her hair, instead Fili worked his way through, wetting her hair and brushing some oil in as he went.

“I get it now, why this is such an intimate act for you all.” Bella spoke up as Fili started to rework the family and marriage braids into her hair. “It feels nice, and comfortable and pleasant. It feels like home.”

Fili finished braiding the rest of her hair back and Bella could feel his fingers brush against the back of her neck. It wasn't cold but still a small shiver ran through her body as she slowly stood and turned to face her husband.

There was a faint blush on his cheeks, a blush Bella knew was reflected on her.

His eyes, normally a bright blue were darkened with emotions Bella had no name for and as she watched she could see as Fili’s eyes flicked around, taking her in.

“Bell…”

She almost missed his whisper as someone knocked loudly on the door, startling both of them out of their trance.

“Fili, Bella! Beorn said to tell you dinner is ready.”

“We’ll be right out Dori” Bella called, stepping away from Fili. Without sparing a glance to her husband she headed over to the door and out into the hallway, waiting until she was out of Fili’s sight to let out the breath she had been holding. What had just happened? 

Fili followed his wife out after allowing himself a few moments to shake himself out of the daze he had found himself in. Bella was beautiful, he had known that from the moment he had met her and the more time he spends with her the more he can see that her personality adds to her beauty. What had just happened though? He’d been fixing her hair, something he had done several times before, why was this any different. Was it because of Kili’s teasing? Or the fact that he had almost lost her several times over the past few days?

As Fili settled himself at the table, sitting in between Bella and Kili, he took a chance to have a look at Bella. She still looked slightly flushed, was she still thinking of that moment like he was, or was it just the heat from the fire that had been lit?

Her hair was sporting it’s usual two braids which had been pulled back and clasped at the back of her head while the rest of her hair was in a simple but tight braid down her back. With his slightly oversized tunic hanging loosely around her and the brown travel skirt she was wearing, her entire appearance was both plain and in a way messy. Yet Fili could feel his heart skip a beat as he watched her.

“Here, brother, pass these mushrooms to Bella.”

Kili’s voice and the bowl shoved in front of him broke Fili out of yet another trance, with a quick shake of his head he passed the mushrooms to Bella before leaving her to her conversation with the Ri brothers. Instead of fixating on things he couldn’t explain, Fili engaged his brother and Bofur in an exchange of insults, laughing as Bofur reminded his brother about the elf in Rivendell that had definitely not been female.

* * *

As safe as Beorn’s was they couldn’t stay forever. After allowing two days of rest while their generous host sent his animals to gather supplies it was soon time for the company to start off again.  By now any head start they had on the orcs pursuing them was lost but Bella had expertly reminded Thorin that without any supplies they wouldn’t make it far and their lead wouldn’t matter then. And Fili could admit to being amazed by how well his wife had been able to stop his uncle’s anger with just one sentence.

It had been a strange two days for the married pair. Fili had found himself thinking about Bella alot. And anytime the two of them were alone in their room he found it hard to stop his imagination from wandering back to that odd moment, he thinks if she would have allowed it - and they hadn’t been interrupted - he would have ended up kissing Bell. That both terrified and excited him.

Bella had taken to trying to avoid being alone with him, and while Fili had noticed it he didn’t stop it, because he still spent quite some time with Bella regardless as she didn't seem to mind him as long as there was someone else there. The pair had been joined in the garden by Kili, Ori and Nori nearly constantly, their time spent moving between lazing about and sharing stories to Bella telling them all (mainly Ori but Fili found himself drinking in the information) about the various flowers surrounding them. Nori was also giving them some sneaking tips and sending Bella off to try and nick things from around the place and play pranks on the other company members. That had stopped after Dwalin had caught the pair of them dumping soil into his boots.

Fili had also decided that Bella needed some instruction on using her sword. He quite enjoyed showing her how to wield her weapon, and enjoyed even more watching her practice with Ori of all people. They shy dwarf had realised that the way hobbits danced lended quite well to learning how to move around during a battle. Despite only having a few hours of practice Bella had started to move around quite well and since she was following dance moves rather than fighting stances she would be unpredictable to any enemy once she really got the hang of it.

The down side to all of this was that Beorn spent his spare time outside as well. And upon learning just how much of an agriculture expert Bella was, the skin-changer would engage her in conversations about what plants worked well for various purposes.

And no matter how thankful Fili was to Beorn, every time he saw the giant man leaning over the small girl or patting her head with a hand that was almost as big as Fili, he found himself fighting the urge to drag Bella away from her new friend.

Fili was probably alone in the relief he felt at leaving the place.

* * *

It had been a hard ride to the edge of Mirkwood. Bella had barely gotten used to riding horseback at the start of the journey before they lost their ponies. Now after everything they had been through since, the constant gallop had her groaning as she slid off her mount.

Bella smiled at Fili as he helped her remove the pack that had been strapped to her pony. They had all taken a chance yesterday to use the small river at the very back of Beorn’s property to bathe and wash off the dirt that had begun to stick to them and Fili’s hair was almost golden once again.

Bella had known he was handsome, knew that despite how different he looked to all the hobbit men she had grown up with she could find no fault with how Fili looked. Now though she had become aware that she  _ found  _ him attractive, and after the moment they had almost had a few nights ago Bella was almost scared at what that meant for her.

One step into the forest and Bella had to stop. 

“Bell, everything okay?” Fili asked, and Bella almost shrunk into the arm he placed around her shoulders.

“This forest, I had expected it to feel… alive… like Rivendell, or even just calming like Beorn’s but it just feels…  _ sick. _ ” She could hear the tremble in her voice but could not find it in herself to care. This forest needed help. Needed healing. “I have a bad feeling about this place.”

“Hey, it’ll be alright Bell, you’ll see. I’m here and I won't let anything happen to you, I promise.” as he spoke Fili and turned her to face him, tucking an invisible strand of hair behind her ear, before pulling her into a hug. Bella breathed in, catching the scent of the honey soap Beorn had leant them. Fili was warm, and his hold was comforting and strong. She would be fine, she was safe with her husband, he would keep her safe.

“Thank you Fili, dear, I’m okay, it was just a bit startling that feeling.” As much as Bella wished to stay where she was she couldn’t, they needed to move quickly, the orcs would soon realise they were no longer at Beorn’s and would hurry after them. Bella pulled back with a soft smile, refusing to acknowledge calling Fili dear, it had been her mother’s name for her father and somehow it had slipped out. 

“Not my horse, I need it!” Gandalf called, walking back out of Mirkwood, halting Dori and Bifur as they were about to set it loose.

Fili could see the worry on the wizard's face and a quick glance at Bella told him she could too, and he could see her worries from before rising back up. She had started to bite her lip, something Fili had realised she only did when she was anxious. He moved over and held her hand, giving it a soft squeeze to remind her that he was there, slowly he could see her relax, letting out a breath as she stopped biting her lip.

The company watched after Gandalf as he took off, calling out “I will meet you on the overlook, do not enter that mountain without me!” after a moment to allow everyone to gather their packs, Thorin turned and led them into the foreboding forest, Fili keeping a grip on Bella’s hand to help ease her nervousness.

“Be careful everyone, stay close and remember to stay on the path” his uncle called as he and Dwalin moved to the front of the line.

* * *

Despite Fili and Bella often falling to the rear of the company while travelling they quickly found themselves walking near the front, with only Kili and Balin between them and Thorin and Dwalin at the front.

Thorin had quickly asked for his nephews to travel with him, with the claim that they were the youngest and had the best eyesight, especially Kili with his archer’s gaze. Fili knew his uncle felt uneasy and had used the excuse to call his family closer to him but he decided he could not fault his uncle for that. They couldn’t have been travelling more than a couple of hours and Fili already felt the need to pull both his brother and wife as close as possible to protect them.

“It must be noon by now, and yet the trees block out all the sun” Bella stated conversationally.

Fili looked over at her, her face was tilted up, looking towards the tops of the trees, her eyes darting about as though hoping to catch a glimpse of the sun through the leaves.

“I don't imagine much sun manages to penetrate this cursed forest.” Fili squeezed the hand he was still holding as Bella turned to look at him before gazing around at the plants surrounding the old and worn out path,

“I don’t know any of these plants, and while I know the trees they have all twisted and sickened to the point I can barely recognise an oak tree from a maple tree.”

The heartbroken look on his wife’s face made Fili want to stop and pull her into his arms and block this forest from her eyes. But he could not. Instead he forced a joyful smile and nudged her shoulder.

“Hey, you know what might brighten up this place, a song. Any good hobbit songs you could teach us?”

“There’s a few drinking songs my Took cousins taught me, much to my father’s annoyance.”

* * *

Bella woke suddenly. 

They had continued walking along the path until it started to get too hard to see more than a meter in front of them, they had dropped where they were and dug into some of the smoked meat Beorn had supplied.  
At Thorin’s command no fire was lit and everyone had to curl up where they were. Watch was set but there was no way for them to know how much time had passed and they could not see anything anyway.

What had woken her. She had been sleeping, huddled with Fili for warmth, so why was she awake. There was no light to have woken her, no sounds other than the snores of her friends. No warmth.  
That’s it, she was cold. A quick pat around told her that Fili was no longer lying next to her. As she squinted around she could just make out two forms, huddled a meter or so away from her. He must have just been woken for watch by Kili, which - as long as everyone had been accurate in their estimations - meant that they had three more hours before dawn came and they had to rise.

Her eyes now adjusted as much as possible to the darkness Bella called softly for Fili. His dwarvish eyesite was better than hers in the dark so he would likely be able to help her shuffle over to him.  
As she reached out two pairs of hands grabbed her and helped her move forward. Finally next to Fili she could see that Kili had indeed been her other helper and as Fili asked her if everything was okay Bella felt her brother-in-law drape a blanket around her shoulders before wishing them both a soft goodnight.

“I’m fine, just woke up and I don’t think I can fall back to sleep again. It’s too quiet, the forest around us makes no noise.”  
Bella snuggled up against Fili’s left side, allowing him to keep a hold of one of his swords with his right hand, and felt his arm wind around her shoulders. She smiled, feeling safer just by having him next to her. “Tell me something about you?”

“I hate apple’s but I love apple pie.” Fili whispered. Bella had started this after she had taught the dwarves a couple of drinking songs. Needing a rest from singing she had asked Fili to tell her things that a wife would know about their husband and he had asked that she would respond in turn.

With a giggle Bella answered back “I make a wonderful apple and cinnamon pie, won best pie for the past five years at our harvest party.”

“I once broke uncle Thorin’s hunting bow and blamed it on Kili since he was learning to walk and loved to pick up anything he could reach. Amad told uncle it was his own fault for leaving the bow somewhere Kili could reach. They both still think Kili did it, in fact uncle will sometimes bring it up when he wants to remind Kili what a rascal he is.”

“I got angry when Lobelia told me that I wasn’t a proper girl because I wore trousers. So I snuck into her backyard while the washing was on the line and I knew they would be at the markets. I spent a whole hour unpicking the stitching on all her skirts and dresses, grumbling about how girls don’t have to just look pretty and cook.”

“I hate being alone, frightened of it. Don’t know why. I mean I can be by myself as long as I’m aware of where someone else is, but the second I’m left alone and everyone else is off doing duties or training or whatever, I freak out.”

“I hate spiders. No matter how small I can always spot them, but I’m so scared of them that I freeze up and can’t get rid of them.”

“I think you sing beautifully.”

Silence followed Fili’s last statement. Whispered so softly Bella almost missed it. She could feel a blush creeping across her face and thanked Yavanna that it was too dark for Fili to see it.

“Sing for me Fili.”

Soft humming filled her ears followed by some whispered words she knew well, her memories of dancing with him on their wedding day filled her mind as she drifted back to sleep to the sound of his voice.

“ I'll swim and sail on savage seas, with ne’er a fear of drowning…”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter for you all. Can I just say after two months without posting a part of me was worried that no one would care about this fic anymore so to see people reading and commenting still has made me so happy!
> 
> Hope everyone is keeping safe and healthy.
> 
> Take care!

They had been travelling for five days before they reached the river Beorn had warned them of. Unfortunately the bridge was gone.

Fili felt his spirit drop even further than it had over the last few days as his uncle let out a soft swear. If there was no bridge then they couldn’t cross the river without the magic affecting them. If they couldn’t cross the river they would never make it out of this cursed place, would never reach the mountain. Would likely be hunted down by Azog and his orc pack. They would die. Bella would die.   
Fili pulled her close to him, placing a soft kiss on the top of her head. The braids he had placed in her hair before leaving Beorn’s had now almost completely unwound, the same could be said for everyone really. Fili felt his fingers itching to fix Bella’s hair for her, to run his hands through her soft curls, memory of their moment last time invading his mind. It would have to wait until they were through this place.

“I think I can see a boat across the river!” Kili exclaimed from where he stood right on the edge of the bank, scanning the river.

Fili followed his brother’s line of sight, feeling Bella lean forward to do the same, if he squinted he could make out a dark shape that looked like it could be a small row-boat.

“That’s great Kee, but as you said, the boat is across the river.”

Bella could see Kili’s face fall at Fili’s words. True, the boat was currently unreachable and she knew Fili was starting to despair but he could still have been nicer about pointing out the flaw in his brother’s observation. She gave Fili a smack across his shoulder and stepped over to her brother-in-law.

“That’s alright Kili, ignore your brother, I’m sure we could find a way to get the boat over here. Maybe with some rope and a branch as a simple grappling hook.”

“Thanks Bella, I think I could make that throw if we manage to find a branch with the right weight.”

“Alright you all heard him, start looking for branches!” Bella called to the rest of the company, watching as they all sprung into action “For Yavanna’s sake stay on the path!” she added as Bifur and Gloin both started to step into the thick foliage on either side of their path.  As he passed her Thorin gave her a slight nod, and she smiled. He approved of her actions, it felt nice knowing she had done something right.

Bella stared out over the river, if they could get the boat over to them was there any oars to help them row across? They needed something to help pull themselves across.

“Nori, can I have one of your knives please?”

“What’s going on in that head of yours little thief?” the wiry dwarf asked, handing over one of his many knives.

“Well I just realised, we have no way of knowing whether the boat has any oars with it or not. I figure we could throw a rope across and anchor it in the river bank with the knife, that way we can pull ourselves across with the rope.” Bella explained, picking up some of their rope, tying the end securely around the hilt of the knife before walking over to Kili. With a quick explanation the archer whipped the rope above his head before tossing it across and giving it a quick tug.

“It seems stuck but whoever gets across first will need to check and anchor it more securely.” Kili told her before going to inspect the various branches the others had found.

Bella felt a presence beside her and turned to see Fili looking over at his brother. “Thanks Bella, sometimes he feels a bit down, being an archer amongst dwarves. It’s perfectly honourable and needed for hunting and for battle but a lot of dwarrow will claim that archery is an elvish skill that we have no business dealing with.”

“Nothing to thank me for, he saw the boat and he has the skills we need right now.” Bella turned, stepping into Fili’s arms as he opened them for a hug. The past five days in Mirkwood and definitely brought the two of them closer as they sought comfort and warmth from one another, another thing was that Bella had stopped blushing during the exchanges. She had grown used to the casual contact and as the feeling of sickness grew the further in they travelled the more she had sought comfort from her husband.

“I’m tired” she whispered, closing her eyes for a moment “I feel drained in this place.”

* * *

It took nearly an hour before they were all over the other side, waiting for Bombur to make his way across. Of course things just couldn’t go smoothly for them could they. Just as Fili could feel himself breathing a sigh of relief that they had all made it safely across, Bombur lost his footing and fell back. Into the river.  There was a mad scramble as Dwalin, Gloin and Thorin jumped forward to pull the large dwarf out of the water, made all the harder for them by the fact that he had fallen into a deep sleep. 

“Great, now what? How are we going to carry him?” Oin groused as he checked Bombur over.

“Make a stretcher, use wood from the boat and the ropes. Quickly as you can, we’re at the halfway point now, the sooner we’re out of here the better.” Thorin spoke up, taking a few steps forward, away from the river.  The company made quick work of it, eager to keep moving away from the river and out of the forest.  Fili knew that they had been incredibly lucky on their journey through Mirkwood. After Bombur’s fall Fili had been hoping that that was the worst of their luck through the sick forest. And when the large dwarf woke the next day he had started to believe that things would be okay.  And then the spiders came.

Well, technically first they lost the path. Then Bella pointed out that they had been going in circles. Then the spiders came.

Bella had just scaled up a tree to try and find a bearing for them to follow when the spiders had descended upon them. Fili shouted for Bella to stay up in the tree but he had no idea if she could hear him. They tried to fight, he could see Kili being wrapped up in web and he made his way over to his brother. 

_ Ugh. what was that… something had… some… stabbed… was he dying? _ He shook his head as blackness clouded his vision.  _ Stay awake… help… Kili. Bell.  _ Black. Dark. Nothing.

She could hear something moving in the trees. The company was gone and she was willing to bet whatever she was following took them.  Bella had dropped down from the tree to inform the company which way they needed to go only to find they weren’t where she had left them. She had drawn her little sword and listened. Now she was following whatever was moving around hoping against all hope that it was just her friends being stupid and loud. She’d even be happy if they were all pulling a prank on her, she’d laugh along with them if that was the case. Of course she would have to retaliate at some point.

The movement had stopped but the noise continued, an odd raspy clicking noise. Bella slipped her hand into her pocket, fingers curling around the strange ring she had found that made her invisible. Something told her that there was more to the ring than it seemed, that she should be wary of using it. But her friends were in trouble. Fili was in trouble. And she wasn’t a strong fighter, she had barely begun learning. She needed the ring.

Bella silently made her way forward, sword at the ready. Only to come upon a group of giant spiders maneuvering several bodies wrapped in web. She could recognise the one nearest to her, the golden braid that had slipped out of the webbing. Fili.

_ “...and juicy… what a lovely treat” _

With a start Bella realised she could hear the spiders talking, could understand what they were saying to themselves and each other. Slowly she picked up a loose rock and took a few steps away from the group. Taking a deep breath Bella threw the rock as hard as she could in the opposite direction before moving back to where Fili was now hanging.  The spiders moved towards where the rock fell but Bella dared not remove the ring. They would be back soon, once they realised there was no prey they were following. She moved forward towards Fili, her eyes shooting around and counting the webbed up bodies. Thirteen. They were all accounted for.

Slowly Bella pulled the webbing away from Fili’s face, he was pale and hardly breathing. The spiders must have stung him, the others too. Before she could think twice Bella mumbled a quick ‘sorry’ to her husband and leant in to place a quick kiss on his lips before she stood back up and cut him down. She didn’t watch, didn’t look to see where he landed, instead she hurried to the rest of the company, slashing her sword through the webs holding them up.

_ “... our food!” _

Bella spun, her sword flashing out and stabbing the spider that had come up behind her.

_ “It stings! Where is it? It stings!” _

Sting. Not a bad name for a sword. Not a bad name at all.

Bella danced around the spiders, slashing at them as much as she could, but she was inexperienced. And while the journey had definitely given Bella more muscles than she had started with after a week in this forest with rationed food and water, after a whole journey on rations really and not having her usual seven meals a day, Bella exhausted quickly.  She slashed once more and jumped down, hoping to land near her dwarves and hoping they were waking up, ready to fight. She slipped her ring off as she stood and followed the grumbling she could hear to her left.

“Fili!” she cried as she spied him with his brother, pulling the webs off themselves.

“Bell, your okay!” he grabbed her and pulled her close and Bella smiled as she relaxed into his arms, a slight blush spreading across her face as she remembered her instinctual kiss before.  Bella stepped back and gave Kili a quick glance before turning to look over the rest of the company.

“I’d worried I had lost you all. I’m glad I didn’t.”

Fili smiled at his wife as she sighed in relief. Relief that did not last long as the spiders descended once again.  They all drew weapons and readied to fight, Fili pushed Bella behind him. But they were all still sluggish from the spider venom. As he fought beside his brother Fili struggled to keep an eye on Bella, one moment he could see her gripping her sword, fear in her eyes, the next she was gone. He hoped she was hiding but knowing Bella she was probably fighting.

Suddenly the spiders started dropping, one by one, and Fili felt relieved. This had to be the worst thing that happened to them in the forest, the bad luck had run out and they would soon be out of this cured place. They would feel the sun again and Bella wouldn’t feel the pressing sickness of the nature around her.  A horn sounded. Damn. Luck was still against them. Elves. Mahal damned elves.

As the spiders were felled or run off the blonde haired elf called out something in his stupid language and suddenly arrows were pointing at them all. Fili struggled as an elf pushed him into the middle of a circle with the rest of his kin, as he struggled he searched for Bella, still he could not see her. Please let her be hiding. Please let her be safe.

“It would seem we have some trespassers. Search them.” That bloody blonde elf. 

The elf that had pushed him into the center now started to pat him down, removing any weapon he could find. Fili smirked. He had plenty of knives and daggers hidden within his clothing, good luck finding them all.

They found them all. Damn.

As they were prodded along, hands now bound in front of them Fili made sure to brush against his uncle.  
“Thorin, Bella’s not here.” he whispered, careful to make sure none of their captors heard him. He saw his uncle glance around quickly but there was little to be done without the elves realising they had missed someone. Bella could get out of here, get somewhere safe, maybe go and meet Gandalf and bring him here to help them. Elves seemed to like the wizard so maybe they would be let go.

She was probably following them.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so this has a few time skips and such in it but writing their time in the dungeons was hard, like they don't do anything and Bella has to try and find a way out.
> 
> Anyway, stay safe and healthy guys!

Bella was ready to kill someone. Who, she hadn’t decided yet. Maybe Thranduil for being a narcissistic git and imprisoning her dwarves. Maybe Thorin for being a hard-headed and stubborn git and refusing to cooperate with the elf. Mahal at this point she was ready to kill Gandalf for not only dragging her into this quest but also for leaving them in this cursed place. Maybe all the dwarves for influencing her enough that she was now cursing like them.

Still invisible, Bella followed the elf guards who were leading Thorin to his cell, with any luck he would be placed with the rest of the company, which would make her job easier.   
She could hear her friends before she could see them. All of them were yelling and banging against the cell doors when Thorin was shoved into the last empty cell.  
Bella was torn, should she stay and wait until the guards disappeared and reveal herself to the dwarves, or follow the guards. Her decision was made when she saw the guard walking off with the keys and realised that she would need to know where the keys were going to be in order for her to free the others.  
Bella spared a glance at Fili, leaning against his cell door, worry etched into his face. Beside him Kili had his arm around his brother, offering silent support. Allowing herself a moment to look at her husband Bella shook herself and took off after the guards. Not only did she need the keys but she would also need a way out.

* * *

Three days. They had been trapped in the dungeons for three days with nothing but themselves for company. And that female elf. She had come by twice in the time they had been here and his brother had flirted with her both times. Fili was ready to knock his brother out, if only to save himself from hearing the stupid things Kili said in his attempt to woo the female.

“You’re looking rather glum.”

“Yeah, well, Kili’s driving me mad and I’m so worried about….. Bell!” Fili looked up as he spoke, starting with surprise as he realised that it was Bella who had spoken. Bella who was standing outside his cell door with a grin on her face, which fell into a frown as the rest of the company realised she was there and called out to her.

“The one and only. But seriously you all need to be quiet. There are guards nearby.” Bella scolded them all before she turned back to face Fili. 

He drank her in, she looked fine, well relatively speaking. She wasn’t harmed but she looked exhausted and tense. He reached his hands out through the bars and grasped hers.  “I’m so glad you’re okay Bell, I was so scared something had happened to you. But how are you here? Why are you here?”

“I followed along behind you all and managed to slip in. And I promise you all I’m looking for a way to get you out of here. I’ve found where the keys are kept and I’ve been watching them for the past three days, if I time it right I can take them and it would be hours before they realised you were gone. I’m just looking for a safe way out now.”

“You are amazing love. But you look exhausted, are you eating? Resting?” Fili asked as Bella sat down against his cell door.  _ Love  _ where had that come from? It felt oddly right, and Bella hadn’t reacted to it, did she like it or had she just not noticed?

“I’ve managed to steal some bits and pieces but nothing much, I don’t want to raise their suspicions. As for rest, I’ve taken a few naps but I keep waking myself up in fear that I may be discovered.” Bella yawned as she leant her head back, eyes half closed “now, tell me, why is Kili driving you mad?”

Beside him his brother let out an indignant sound but Fili elbowed him to shut him up. “Why don’t you rest and get some sleep, if anyone comes I will wake you up.”

Bella nodded and gave him a soft smile “thanks dear, I wish I could ask you to sing to me, but I guess talking will have to do.”

“Well Kili has decided to flirt with that red-headed elf who participated in our imprisonment. It’s awful having to listen to it, and he keeps sighing dreamily whenever he looks at her or thinks about her. He started asking me what I thought she was doing a few hours ago, as though I care about that. Honestly I think I’m just getting annoyed at being stuck here…” Fili glanced down at Bella. His wife had fallen asleep, soft breaths escaping her as she rested. She looked peaceful.

“Fee why don’t you get some rest too. I know you’ve been too worried about her to sleep properly. Don’t worry I’ll wake you both if someone comes.” Kili whispered and Fili felt himself nodding in agreement. He leant against the door, head resting next to Bellas, one of his hands grasped hers where it rested against the horizontal bar near the bottom of the cell door. 

His last thought was that next time the elves bought them food he would be sure to save some for his wife.

* * *

Bella woke up to Fili shaking her shoulder as he glanced at the hallway leading up and out of the dungeon. Bella stood quickly and stretched before saying a quick goodbye and placing her ring on, just in time. She had just enough time to step back into a niche in the wall next to Fili’s cell before some guards came through bearing trays of food for the dwarves. Feeding time. Which meant she had to have slept for nearly four hours. Better than the few half hour naps she’d managed over the last three days. The guards walked off and Bella waited a minute before pulling the ring off and moving to sit against Fili’s cell door again.

“Here, have some food.” Fili’s hands shoved through the bars holding some bread out to her. Bella took it, savouring the feeling of eating something substantial for the first time in days. Fili tried to give her more but she refused, he needed to eat as well.

“Here, have some of mine.” Kili shoved some dried fruit at her, ignoring her protests. The elves definitely treated their prisoners well. While they were only fed once a day they were given a sizable chunk of bread, some dried fruit and nuts and a mug of water. After quickly eating the fruit Kili had given her Fili all but forced her to have some of his water. After several sips she had to refuse having anymore. Instead she stood and gave his hand a squeeze.

“I’d better be off. The guards will be back soon to collect your trays. And I need to find a way out of this place before I can free you. I promise I will come by as often as I can.”

* * *

It took Bella two weeks to find their way out. Over those two weeks she had visited the dwarves every day after their meal trays were collected which gave her four hours until the guards did their rounds, checking on the prisoners. She would be greeted with some bread and fruit from various dwarves each time, her friends taking turns to hide some of their food for her. While she ate she would inform them of what she had found out on her wonderings, most of which was a whole lot of nothing. After she had shared with the group she would sit against Fili’s cell door and fall asleep to his voice as he filled her in on what the company had been up to and Kili’s efforts at flirting with the she-elf. She would be woken in time to slip her ring on and step to the side as the guard patrol walked by, after which she would whisper a quick goodbye to Fili and would set off to do some more exploring.

She stumbled upon the barrels by accident. She had been down to the cellar to check that the guards still stored the keys down there when they weren’t being used to deliver the dwarves their meals. She had overheard the discussion about the empty barrels being sent downriver to laketown and had watched closely as they were sent off.  
Then she heard how they would have double the amount of barrels next sunday due to the party being held on the saturday night.

Perfect. She had her way out and her time to escape. A party meant that the guards would probably be lax, unlikely to continue their regular checks on the dwarves. Which meant more cover for her, not to mention that any noise they could possibly make would be drowned out by the sounds of revelry.

It was on her way up to the higher levels to do some snooping around for more information about the party that she came upon a room that seemed abandoned, if not for the pile of weapons she recognised as belonging to her friends.  Bella sat in there for a whole day. Waiting. No one walked in. Barely anyone walked pass.

She knew any weapons she stored on herself or held would be invisible. And while no one had come to check the weapons while she was watching, there was no way of knowing if someone would come by and check, or if there were any plans for the weapons.

Bella grabbed two daggers from the back of the pile. They were small and likely not to be missed unless someone ran an inventory which she was doubting. Bella stored them in her coat pockets and made her way back to the dungeons, eager to share the good news with her friends.

* * *

For the following week Bella continued to smuggle weapons out of that room while also listening out for information regarding the party. She only took knives and daggers and did her best to make sure it looked like nothing was missing from the pile. Both Fili and Nori stored a ridiculous amount of weapons on their persons so she managed to sneak a weapon for each dwarf before deciding she was playing with fire and couldn’t risk any more. They were lucky that the elves never stepped into the cells - except Thorin’s when they dragged him out and before their king (which had only happened twice and both had ended with Thranduil taunting Thorin as he was dragged back to his cell.) Bella was able to pass the weapons to the other Dwarves to hide in their cells with them until they could leave. It wasn’t much but it was something.

At last the day came and Bella could feel herself buzzing at the thought of escaping this place with her dwarves. She was tired, the only thing keeping her going was the knowledge that they would soon be gone from here. And she could feel that the strange ring that made her invisible was making her tiredness worse. With the plan in place all they could do was wait and Bella found herself visiting Fili more often, relishing the relief she felt without the ring on. The two of them would sit and talk, sharing stories, playing their ‘tell me something about yourself’ game (which Kili had renamed it their ‘game of confessions’ because it sounded cooler.) Sometimes they imagined what they would have been doing had they not been on the quest but that stopped once Bella mentioned she would probably be married to Bobby Bolger and playing housewife to him while he took over running Bag End and it’s estate. Instead they spoke about what the people they left behind were likely doing and Bella found great pleasure in Fili’s embarrassment as she mentioned that her grandmother Baggins was probably already knitting a baby blanket in expectation of her next great-grandchild.

Fili let out a sigh of relief as Bella appeared with the keys, going through and unlocking each cell with whispered reminders for everyone to be quiet. She got to his and Kili’s last and the second the door was unlocked he stepped forward and pulled Bella into his arms, burying his face in her hair. He had been worried that, despite Bella having gone nearly a whole month without being found, somehow someone would stumble upon her and everything would be ruined.

“I missed you Bell.” Fili whispered, one of his hands going up to cup her cheek. Bella leaned into his hand a smile upon her face.

“I’ve been right here.”

“Not the same love.” Fili told her, pulling her back into a hug “I missed this, knowing I could hug you and knowing that I could keep you safe, I missed falling asleep next to you.”

“Look this is touching and I’m glad Bella’s fine and all but I would really love to get out of this cell and out of this place. Before some guards decide to come along.” Kili whispered furiously from behind him, and Fili realised that he was still standing in the doorway of the cell and as a result was blocking his brother from getting out.

“Sorry Kee.” Fili chuckled as he stepped aside and let his brother out “Close the door up, no need to make it easy for them to realise we’re missing.”

Fili followed Bella down into the cellar, it felt weird to be walking further into the woodland halls but he trusted everything Bella said about their escape route. He watched as she placed the keys on a hook next to the door before she gestured for them all to move further into the room. 

“Okay, into the barrels everyone.”

Fili stared at his wife. Sure she had told them they would be dropping down into a river, but she hadn’t told them they would be doing it in barrels. As the others started to voice their disagreements Fili could see Bella’s face fall as she turned to look pleadingly at him. Before he could speak though Thorin hissed at them all to do as they were told.

“What about you Bell?” Fili asked as he jumped into his barrel after making sure the others were all nicely situated. 

“I’m pulling the lever, then jumping down into the river.”

“No.” Fili struggled to pull himself out of his barrel “No you jump into a barrel and I’ll pull the lever.”

Bella shook her head and Fili almost groaned, sometimes she was too brave and too stubborn.

“If someone walks in and spots you they will know you all escaped. I can put my ring on and hide before taking a chance to escape. If that happens, which it won't, we meet in Laketown.”

“She’s right, Lad, as much as I don’t like it either we gotta do as she says.” Gloin whispered from the barrel below Fili. 

Fili looked at his wife and nodded. He would trust her with this like she trusted him with… well everything so far. 

“Be careful love.”

Bella smiled “everyone, hold your breath.” And with that she pulled down on the lever and Fili felt himself rolling towards water, his stomach apparently deciding to stay behind. His barrel smelt like apples. Wonderful.

They landed with a splash and everyone quickly reached out to each other, making sure they were all there. Fili looked around, Bella hadn’t joined them yet. Had something happened. He looked over at Thorin who was currently holding Kili’s barrel as he checked over his young nephew. 

“Uncle, Bell…”

Thorin nodded and gave him a reassuring smile, the same one he used to give Fili when he was knee high and had nightmares “We’ll wait a couple of minutes, after that we’ll assume she’s had to hide.”

Before anything more could be said they heard the trap door opening followed by a splash and Bella landed in the water next to them.

“Help!” She called and she grabbed a hold of one of the empty barrels, trying to lift herself in. Fili moved over and helped boost her up while Dori who was next to him held the barrel steady. Once Bella was situated Thorin gave the order for them to start moving and everyone started paddling along, only to be swept up not even a minute later by the river’s current and propelled through the rapids.

A sudden shout and the smack of an arrow caused Fili to look up “Orcs!” he called as the pack that had been hunting them moved into site. Not good, they had no weapons outside of a dagger each and Bella’s sword, the orcs had bows.  So did the elves. Their captors had suddenly jumped out of the trees and fired on the orcs, it was a small group of elves and Fili could spy the red-headed captain that Kili was fond of followed by the blonde elf they had learnt was Thranduil’s son Legolas.

“Problem, the gate’s closed!” Bofur called as they suddenly jammed up under a stone bridge-like platform.

Fili glanced back, the orcs were too close, as were the elves. There was no way they could pull themselves onto land and expect to survive this. Looked like it would be back to the dungeons, for all of them this time.  Someone kicked his head. Kili. That bastard. That beautiful and clever bastard. His little brother had jumped up and across the barrels, now he was making his way to a lever that looked to be the one they needed to open the gate. 

“Kili!”

Of course some low-life orc has to shoot Kili in the leg. Bloody orcs. Still Fili watches as Kili stands back up and pulls the lever down, opening the gate and letting the dwarves continue on. Fili and Bella both held Kili’s barrel for him and waited for him to roll into it before they pushed off and followed the rest of the company.

* * *

Bella was exhausted. The river had been fast enough to pull them ahead of their pursuers but it wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that following the river would lead them to the company. And with a fast river came a lot of being thrown about in their barrels. Which was exhausting. She felt like kissing the ground but maintained her dignity and instead stood up and looked to make sure everyone was accounted for.

“Bell, give me a hand would you.” Fili called softly, helping his brother lean against a large boulder. Bella moved over to them, already ripping some of her tunic off to help bind Kili’s leg (technically it was Fili’s tunic but she had claimed it as her own.)

“We need to get moving, it won’t be long until those orcs catch up.” Thorin ordered, already starting to move away from the river and the forest they had managed to leave behind them.

“Kili’s wounded, his leg needs binding.” Fili told his uncle, and Bella could see the worry in his eyes as he used river water to wash off the wound.

“It won’t take us more than a minute Thorin, we just need to stop the bleeding.” Bella added on, she could tell he was agitated and ready to get moving again after so long, and it was probably worsened by the worry he felt for his nephew. So Bella spoke calmly and continued to wash the wound as she spoke, by the time Thorin responded - whether agreeing to wait or not - the wound would almost be fully bound.

“Fine, one minute, then we need to move, we’re losing daylight and we have an orc pack on our trail.”

Bella bound the wound as quickly and as tightly as she possibly could. It would hold, at least until they got to Laketown and could hopefully barter some medical supplies.

“Don't move.”

Bella jumped up with the rest of the company, eyes moving to the man who stood before them, bow drawn and aimed at Dwalin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had them stuck in the prison for so long because I realised that I had them starting the quest in summer and the way things were written they'd end up at Erebor before Durins day... which I know most people probably didn't notice but I did and needed to fix it in some way. Also time in there meant time that Kili and Tauriel would have spoken. while I didn't really put that in here it is mentioned and implied so it helps make sense of them later.
> 
> Thanks everyone for reading and the Kudos and comments, love you all xx


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanna say a huge thanks to everyone who is reading and commenting and enjoying this fic. Honestly it brings me so much joy to see people reading a fic I wrote simply because I wanted to read something like this. Love you all.
> 
> Hope you are all safe and healthy!
> 
> p.s. It's a bit of a smaller chapter today, I kept wanting to do more with laketown but nothing was really working and it was all seeming too wordy. much excitement to come though.

Fili didn’t like the man. Sure he had agreed to help smuggle them into Laketown but still. He didn’t like him. He wondered vaguely if the reason he disliked Bard so much was because of the easy conversation that the man had struck up with Bella. Fili’s Bella.  
Even now they were standing together and talking, Bella was asking the man all about his children and sharing stories of her experiences baby-sitting her cousins, the two of them laughing with each other. And Fili was glaring. Because after three weeks stuck in that elven prison - only being able to hold onto Bella’s hands, hushed conversations that revolved mainly around him asking her to keep safe and her telling him her escape plans and having the rest of the company all within hearing distance - Fili missed Bella.

“If looks could kill that man would be dead.”

Fili glared over at Nori, the blasted thief was sitting with Kili, Ori and Bofur, all of them laughing at him as he tried to glare Bard into… well not oblivion, they still needed him to get them into Laketown, but at least into silence.

“I don't like him… it. I don't like it.”

“What’s not to like laddie? He’s getting us in isn't he?” Dwalin. Mahal how pathetic did Fili look that Dwalin was getting involved in the teasing. And Thorin. He could see his uncle standing behind Dwalin, laughing along with the rest of the company as Fili scowled at them all.

“Fili, dear, come and meet Bard.” Bella called over and, ignoring the company’s laughter, Fili made his way to his wife. Despite trying to appear unconcerned he couldn’t stop himself from stopping behind Bella and wrapping his arms around her waist as he glared at the man. The glare softened as Bella relaxed back into him with a soft yawn, her hands coming up to rest on top of his.

“Tired love?” He asked softly, smiling down at his wife and ignoring the man standing in front of him. “Maybe you should get some rest.”

“I’m fine, Dearest, I can wait for us to be somewhere safe.” Bella gave Fili a pat on his hands before standing up straight. Well straighter, she was still leaning back on him just not completely relaxed. “This is my husband Fili. Fili meet Bard.”

“At your service.” Fili couldn’t bow, not with his arms full of his hobbit, so he simply inclined his head as Bard responded with his own greetings. With no idea of what exactly Bella wanted now, Fili thanked Bard for his help before coaxing his wife away and towards the middle of the barge where he sat down next to his brother. It wasn’t long before he realised that Bella had drifted into sleep as she leant against him, and with a soft smile Fili simply pulled her closer and rested his head against hers, quickly joining her in sleep.

Bella woke to the sounds of Bard instructing them all to get back into the barrels. Really. Bella was done with the infernal things, she just wanted some warm clothes, warm food and a bed to curl up in - with Fili.  Suddenly something cold and smelly was dumped over her and Bella almost gagged as she realised that she was being covered in fish. Fish.  _ Fish.  _ Why in Yavanna’s name was she covered in fish? Fish!  
Shouts nearby told her the others were receiving the same unwanted surprise she had and slowly her mind caught up to Bard’s thinking. Clever. But still. Fish!

Sitting in a barrel of fish gave one the perfect opportunity to think. Which Bella found she needed. Fili - he had been on her mind often lately, ever since that first night in Mirkwood as he offered her comfort and sang her to sleep. He had sung their song, well it was the hobbit’s traditional marriage-dance song but still, it was theirs. And the time they had spent together during their trek through that horrible, diseased forest had been nice. By the time Bella had told Fili to stay in his barrel and let her pull the lever she had realised that she loved him. In some way. She didn’t know if she was  _ in  _ love with Fili, but her dwarf was important. He made her feel like home and not that he reminded her of the Shire, but that the way her memories of Bag End had warmed her at the beginning of this quest she was now warmed by thoughts of her husband. Maybe she was in love with him. 

She loved him, but did he love her? It seemed like it, he was certainly affectionate with her. But maybe it was just that he felt it was his duty. It was odd. Bella was so used to Bobby Bolger trying to court her simply for her money and title, and the other eligible male hobbits simply caring about her inheritance and estate rather than her. The male’s she had grown up with had all looked at her and loved her status, and the prestige a match with her would afford them.

Fili was a prince. Her status was nothing compared to his. He would one day be a king. So she knew that he looked at her and didn’t see Bag End and it’s estate and inheritance, he looked and saw her, just Bella. But could he love just Bella. None of the hobbit lads had.  
Bella sighed and shifted. It would not do to dwell on such things. They were close to Erebor now, soon it would be Durin’s day and they would be at the entrance. Soon she would have to steal from a dragon. Everything was happening soon.

* * *

Fili held his breath as he helped boost Bella up through the toilet before he followed her up. Still as undignifying as it was he couldn't deny that it worked. Bard had managed to sneak them into his house without the guards knowing.   
Fili turned to Bella, she was still gripping Kili's arms after he had pulled her out of the toilet. Pushing aside the sudden spike of jealousy he felt Fili looked closer. Bella was worried, and she was the one supporting Kili now. His brother looked pale, and he was holding his breath, Fili knew from experience that Kili did that when he was trying not to scream or groan from pain.

"You need to sit down Kili, rest your leg" Fili could hear his wife whispering as he moved closer.

“I'm fine, Bella, it’s not as bad as it looks.”

Fili knew his brother well, almost as well as he knew himself. So he could see just how much the wound was affecting him. Unfortunately he also knew that insisting Kili needed to rest would lead to his brother ‘proving’ that he was fine which from experience would lead to Kili making the injury worse and running himself into the ground. Kili was as stubborn as their uncle. And stupid. Like their uncle. 

As Fili pondered the idea that Kili being a mini-Thorin wasn’t actually a good thing, he watched his wife give Kili a small smile before leaving him be and walking over to where Ori was helping Dori out of the toilet.   
She really worried over everyone. Bella was currently fretting over all three Ri brothers, Ori looked resigned, Nori was both a little surprised and also grinning at the complete shock on Dori’s face as the oldest brother was finally being fussed over.

If anyone could manage to mother-hen Dori of course it would be Bell.   
She cared about everyone. She had been through a lot over the quest, and had struggled to deal with everything the Shire had thrown at her after her parents' deaths, but despite it all Bella still had an almost innocent openness to her. His Bell was as strong as mithril and as beautiful as silver. His Bell? When had she become  _ his Bell _ ? His silver Bell.

Sure Gold was considered more precious than silver, it had more worth and was bright and alluring. But Fili had always considered silver to be the more beautiful metal. Not only was silver stronger than gold but it was softer to look at, a more understated beauty. It took a rare person to see the true beauty of silver, too many Dwarrow preferred the more ostentatious and obvious gold for their jewellery. But silver, silver was the colour of starlight, the colour of dreams and kindness, it was glamourous and graceful. Silver was mystery and sensitivity, Hope and love. Silver was Bella.

Bella had moved on to checking over the Ur’s and Fili smiled as she glanced at him before turning back to Bifur.    
Pushing back thoughts about Bella being his (and what that actually  _ meant _ ) Fili made his way to where his uncle was standing with Balin and Dwalin, Kili walking along behind him. His brother was managing to hide his limp quite well, but Fili could see the way Kili’s muscles were tensed and the tiniest wince he would occasionally let slip through his mask.

“Are you two alright? After the last few weeks in those blasted halls and our escape I haven't been able to check in with you two.” Thorin rarely spoke aloud his worries over Fili and Kili. They knew he cared, he was as good as a second father to them, but their uncle sucked at words. For Thorin to be asking after them publicly it meant he was more worried than he was letting on. A quick glance and Fili could see his uncle’s fists clenched, a sign he was restraining himself from pulling them close and fussing over them like they were mere pebble’s again.

“We’re fine uncle, just cold and tired, and smelling of fish.” Fili used this chance to step closer to his brother, feeling Kili lean against him. “I think we’re going to grab Bell and force her to sit down for a moment, she’s barely slept since we entered Mirkwood and hasn’t eaten much at all since we got captured.”

“Yes, I find myself quite impressed with your wife Fili, I know many Dwarrow who would have collapsed and given up by now.”

Fili answered his uncle as he started to led Kili to the bench he could see across the room “Bell is made of mithril I think, beautiful and strong. A true treasure.”

Bella joined the two brothers as they reached the bench, gently easing Kili down before stepping into Fili’s embrace. Fili smiled as he held her close, Bella had managed to act in such a way that no one would have been able to tell she had been taking Kili’s weight as he sat down.   
He had told Bell back in the Shire about how close Thorin had been to not allowing Kili to join the quest and how much his brother wanted to prove that Thorin had made the right decision. It warmed his heart to know that not only did she remember the conversation but she was willing to help Kili in his attempts to show that he belonged.

As Fili sat down and pulled Bella in between himself and Kili he gave his brother a pointed look, his ‘if you aren’t better tomorrow I’m telling Thorin’ look. The resigned sigh Kili let out clued Fili into how bad the injury actually was, normally his brother would protest so for him to accept it then he must be in more pain than Fili had realised.

“Kili, we really do need to at least look at your leg, or get Oin to. Even if it’s as fine as you say - which you and I both know it’s not - it won't hurt to get it checked over. And if it is bad, well better that we can discover it now than when it’s too late and your leg needs to get chopped off.” Bella focused her attention on Kili but Fili could feel her squeezing his hand in worry as she looked over him.

“Yes Bella, I know, I just…”

“Don’t want Thorin to regret allowing you on the quest, I know, I understand. But you look horrible and after the trip down the river and the barrels of fish  _ and  _ our climbing up a toilet I can’t imagine any of it has helped out your injury. Not to mention who knows where that orc arrow was before it hit you, probably covered in all sorts of...”

Fili watched amazed as Kili not only agreed to everything Bella said in her rambles but allowed for her to fuss over him. She was amazing.  Fili stepped away and grabbed Oin, bringing him over to where Bella was helping Kili lay down as she covered him in blankets.  He loved that hobbit. She really couldn’t help but to care for others. His wife really was wonderful.

…

…

…

_ He LOVED her!  _ When had that happened? He did love her, of course he did, how could he not. But when?

Before the dungeons that’s for sure, must have been before Mirkwood as well. Maybe Beorn’s? No, he loved her then already. So then when she defended Thorin against Azog. No he loved her then, had nearly died in fright thinking he would lose her after just getting her back. Goblin tunnels? He loved her. Thunder battle? Still loved her. Rivendell? Was that it? They hadn’t spent much time together beforehand, not alone at least. It was when he first braided her hair for her and she had given him the flower. Then they fought and he was without her. So close and yet so far from her. He had missed her, wanted to fix everything just to talk with her again. Yes, Rivendell. That’s when he fell. 

The setting sun was beaming through the window as Fili gazed at his wife, the light from the sun was setting her auburn hair ablaze and her eyes the colour of molten gold as she laughed at something Kili had grumbled under his breath. Beautiful.

* * *

They had been stuck inside Bard’s house for three days and Kili wasn’t improving. Bella had been helping Oin in keeping his temperature down and numbing the wound but there was little else they could manage to do. The previous day Bella had gone with Fili to inform Thorin of Kili’s injury and given him Oin’s full report.  
Thorin had not been happy.  
Of course that had quickly manifested into Thorin jumping between sitting beside his nephew as he rested and scowling at everyone nearby, except for Dwalin, Balin and Fili. And surprisingly, Bella herself. Even Oin was getting scowled at despite him being the one helping Kili the most.

But despite all the worry for Kili thoughts soon turned to Erebor. They were so close and the longer they stayed in Laketown the more likely things were to go wrong.  
Of course Thorin seemed to have a knack for finding trouble, it appeared he was quite skilled at causing others to either want to kill him or imprison him - and by extension the company.  
So Bella was not at all surprised when they were caught by the master’s men. Pissed off, but not surprised.

“...You will have enough gold to restore this town to the glory it once held.”

Bella looked around as the crowds started to cheer, Thorin may be great and getting them into trouble but by the Valar could he give a great speech. As Bella watched the master, she could see his expression change and his eyes shed a greedy light as he took in the company. She shivered and next to her Fili placed an arm around her shoulders, likely thinking she was cold. She burrowed closer but still stared at the greasy man who was apparently in charge, she did not trust him.

“Will you share in the great wealth of our people? What say you?” Thorin was standing at the foot of the steps, staring up at the master. Really it was not proper at all to treat guests like this, especially royal ones. 

“I say to you, welcome to Laketown! Let us feast!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Regarding the silver being stronger than gold, I remember reading somewhere that pure gold was softer than pure silver but I'm not a science person so idk for sure so I apologise if I'm wrong. Either way in this universe it is.
> 
> And if anyone can help with Khuzdul translations I would love to know what ‘Silver Bell’ would be in Khuzdul - if it’s possible to find out that would be awesome but it’s not super important.


End file.
